Work Precariousness, Job Insecurity and Perceived Psychiatric Distress in a Sample of Egyptian Employees

Abstract

Introduction: The term precarious work is being increasingly used worldwide. Workers are precarious ifthey are in involuntary part-time work, in seasonal or casual work or in temporary jobs without a legal workcontract or formal appointment. Precarious work becomes a global challenge and constituting a serious problemthreatens the well-being of workers and their families. Aim of work: To verify the existence and prevalenceof job insecurity and precarious employment among a sample of Egyptian workers and to clarify the role ofperceived job insecurity and work precariousness on the worker′s mental health. Materials and methods:A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 130 subjects of private and public sector workers inZagazig city, Egypt. Employment Precariousness Scale was used for measuring the employment precariousnessand General Health Questionnaire was used for estimating the minor psychiatric morbidity. Results: Themajority of private sector workers showed a statistically significant high/very high level of precariousnessand job insecurity (87.7%, and 69.2% respectively) compared to the public sector. Only 10.8% of publicsector showed poor mental health compared to 30.8% for the private sector with a statistically significantdifference. Unsatisfied income, having another or second job, perceived work precariousness and job insecuritydemonstrated significant prediction for psychiatric distress. Conclusion and recommendations: The privatesector workers suffered a higher prevalence of work precariousness, job insecurity, and poor mental health incomparison to public sector workers. Precarious work should be regarded as an important social determinantof mental health problems which necessitate urgent interventions with policy tools in order to improve health,increase firms’ productivity, and so wider economic impact.