Precarious Employment and Self-Rated Health in Young Adults

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between employment changes including sustained precarious employment (PE) and poor self-rated health (SRH) in young Korean adults. Methods: A longitudinal study was performed using follow-up data from the Korea Youth Panel Survey 2007 (3rd-12th). Overall, 1265 young adults were included. Multiple logistic regression analyses estimated the poor SRH risk according to employment changes. Poor SRH risk was significantly higher in sustained PE than in fulltime permanent employment in young male adults and overall. However, in young female adults, PE was not clearly associated with poor SRH risk. The proportion of new cases of poor SRH was increased by PE, particularly in young male workers. This finding emphasizes the importance of improving the health of young workers with PE and employment quality for young people vulnerable to PE.