Abstract
Objectives: The aim was to investigate the longitudinal relationship between precarious work and depressive symptoms in a representative cohort of employees in Germany. Methods: In the German Study on Mental Health at Work (S-MGA) (n = 2009), depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ−9). Precarious work was measured through baseline (2012) self-reported job insecurity, marginal part-time, fixed-term contract, hourly wage and—during follow-ups 2012–2017—unemployment. Among employees without depressive symptoms at baseline (2012), we ran logistic regression analyses stratified by gender with depressive symptoms at follow-up in 2017 as the dependent variable, adjusting for baseline (2012) age, gender, socioeconomic position and partner status. Results: Among men, job insecurity (OR: 2.47; 95% 95% CI: 1.37–4.48) and low wage (3.79; 1.64–8.72) at baseline were significantly associated with depressive symptoms at follow-up. Among women, indicators of precarious work were not associated with depressive symptoms at follow-up. Among men, a cumulative exposure index of precarious work was significantly associated with the development of depressive symptoms (one indicator: 1.84; 0.94–3.60, ≥two indicators: 7.65; 3.30–17.73). This index was not associated with depressive symptoms among women. The population attributable fraction of precarious work due to depressive symptoms among men was approximately 30%. Conclusions: Among employees in Germany, precarious work seems to be a risk factor for the subsequent development of depressive symptoms among men, but not among women. Research on precarious employment in different countries is needed.
Highlights
The employment policies associated with the Keynesian economy, which became the norm in the “Golden Age” that followed World War II, ended with the global economic crisis in the 1970s
We focused on five aspects of precarious work as risk factors for depressive symptoms among workers in Germany: (a) job insecurity, (b) working in a fixed-term contract, (c) marginal part-time, (d) low wage and (e) unemployment
Our study indicates that the population attributable fraction (PAF) of depressive symptoms due to precarious work among employed men in Germany is around 30%
Summary
The employment policies associated with the Keynesian economy, which became the norm in the “Golden Age” that followed World War II, ended with the global economic crisis in the 1970s. As a response to this, flexible employment schemes have been introduced along with restrictions in social protection programs [1]. There has been a wide range of flexible work practices under different names, including piecework, casual work, contingent work and so forth [1]. In Germany, deregulations have led to a rise of employment in fixed-term contracts, agency work and marginal part-time work [2–5]. In a European comparison, employees in Germany showed an average level of job insecurity but one of the highest fractions of low wage earners. Several scholars have brought forward the notion of precarious work in order to grasp the increased flexibilization of work in light of its possible consequences for health [6,7]
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