Precarious Jobs Research Articles

Effect of economic recession and impact of health and social protection expenditures on adult mortality: a longitudinal analysis of 5565 Brazilian municipalities

Economic recession might worsen health in low-income and middle-income countries with precarious job markets and weak social protection systems. Between 2014-16, a major economic crisis occurred in Brazil. We aimed to assess the association between economic recession and adult mortality in Brazil and to ascertain whether health and social welfare programmes in the country had a protective effect against the negative impact of this recession. In this longitudinal analysis, we obtained data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, and the Information System for the Public Budget in Health to assess changes in state unemployment level and mortality among adults (aged ≥15 years) in Brazil between 2012 and 2017. Outcomes were municipal all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates for all adults and across population subgroups stratified by age, sex, and race. We used fixed-effect panel regression models with quarterly timepoints to assess the association between recession and changes in mortality. Mortality and unemployment rates were detrended using Hodrick-Prescott filters to assess cyclical variation and control for underlying trends. We tested interactions between unemployment and terciles of municipal social protection and health-care expenditure to assess whether the relationship between unemployment and mortality varied. Between 2012 and 2017, 7 069 242 deaths were recorded among adults (aged ≥15 years) in 5565 municipalities in Brazil. During this time period, the mean crude municipal adult mortality rate increased by 8·0% from 143·1 deaths per 100 000 in 2012 to 154·5 deaths per 100 000 in 2017. An increase in unemployment rate of 1 percentage-point was associated with a 0·50 increase per 100 000 population per rter (95% CI 0·09-0·91) in all-cause mortality, mainly due to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Between 2012 and 2017, higher unemployment accounted for 31 415 excess deaths (95% CI 29 698-33 132). All-cause mortality increased among black or mixed race (pardo) Brazilians (a 0·46 increase [95% CI 0·15-0·80]), men (0·67 [0·22-1·13]), and individuals aged 30-59 years (0·43 [0·16-0·69] per 1 percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate. No significant association was identified between unemployment and all-cause mortality for white Brazilian, women, adolescents (aged 15-29 years), or older and retired individuals (aged ≥60 years). In municipalities with high expenditure on health and social protection programmes, no significant increases in recession-related mortality were observed. The Brazilian recession contributed to increases in mortality. However, health and social protection expenditure seemed to mitigate detrimental health effects, especially among vulnerable populations. This evidence provides support for stronger health and social protection systems globally. None.

Occluded Histories: Philippine Labor after EDSA

Abstract The uprising alternately called EDSA Revolution or People Power Revolution or EDSA People Power Revolt, which led to the downfall of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, supposedly ushered in the formal restoration of civil freedoms that had been snatched away by Marcos’ martial law. In the aftermath of the uprising, formal democratic institutions and civil rights were returned, including the right to free elections and the right to peaceful assembly. But as this article seeks to show, the administrations after EDSA have been marred by the neglect of workers’ welfare and the failure to address old labor concerns such as inadequate wages, job precarity, and contractualization. Given the shortage of employment opportunities in the Philippines, the administrations after EDSA have also promoted migration as its de facto job-generating mechanism. But the export of human resources is not without its ugly consequences, such as making overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) susceptible to abuse and exploitation. Deploying the notion of counter-history and using various materials from both government and non-government organizations, this article undertakes to critically assess the labor conditions during the historical period after the fabled EDSA People Power Revolt, and concludes that no notable changes have taken place.

Precarious work, harassment, and the erosion of employment standards

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine experiences of harassment within the context of precarious work, which in Canada is shaped by subnational legislative frameworks.Design/methodology/approachA narrative inquiry approach to data collection and analysis was adopted. The paper draws from 72 interviews conducted with workers in precarious jobs from various industries in three cities in the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as 52 employment standards officers (ESOs) from 15 local Ministry of Labour offices in every region across the province. Placing workers’ stories in counterpoint to those of ESOs brings them into conversations about the law to which they would normally be left out.FindingsThe main finding of this paper is that harassment and employment standards (ES) violations are interrelated phenomena experienced as abuses of power and as tactics of control occurring within a context that is shaped by legislative frameworks.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates that for workers in precarious jobs legislative frameworks and labor market practices in Ontario do not provide adequate redress for harassment and ES violations. In so doing, legislative frameworks render invisible the power imbalances within the employment relationship and obscure the interrelatedness of harassment and the wider erosion of workplace norms.

Health differences between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment in the Netherlands: A cross-sectional study among Dutch workers

IntroductionPrecarious employment is associated with poor health. Among employees in precarious employment, those with multiple jobs may face additional health risks, e.g. due to combining work schedules and job roles. Our research question is: do differences in health exist between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment?MethodsParticipants in the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey 2012 aged 25–64 years who were not employed through the Act on Social Work Provision and who had a precarious job were included. To select employees in precarious employment (n = 3,609), latent class analysis was performed, based on variables based on indicators described by Van Aerden. Differences in general self-perceived health, burnout complaints, musculoskeletal health, and sickness absence between multiple and single job holders were studied cross-sectionally using logistic regression analyses.ResultsNo significant differences were found between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment for self-perceived health (OR = 0.9; 95%CI = 0.7–1.3), burnout complaints (OR = 0.9; 95%CI = 0.7–1.2), and musculoskeletal health (OR = 1.1; 95%CI = 0.8–1.5). In crude analyses, multiple job holders experienced less sickness absence than single job holders (OR = 0.7; 95%CI = 0.5–0.9). In adjusted analyses, this difference was no longer statistically significant (OR = 0.8; 95%CI = 0.6–1.0).ConclusionsDespite potential health risks related to multiple job holding, we did not find health differences between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment in the Netherlands. More longitudinal research is necessary to provide recommendations for policy makers regarding multiple job holders in precarious employment.

Roundabout wage theft: The limits of regulatory protections for Ontario workers in precarious jobs

Roundabout wage theft: The limits of regulatory protections for Ontario workers in precarious jobs

Complaints-Based Entrepreneurialism: Worker Experiences of the Employment Standards Complaints Process in Ontario, Canada.

In Ontario, workers who face unfair working conditions have the option of filing an official complaint with the Ministry of Labour. Complaints making is characterized as a widely available, easily accessible, and free-of-cost avenue for workers who may have experienced a violation of the law. However, interviews with Ontario workers who have filed complaints tell a different story. This paper is based on a community-university project on the enforcement of the Employment Standards Act in Ontario. We draw on 36 interviews with workers employed in precarious jobs in Sudbury, Toronto, and Windsor, who filed complaints to the Ministry. Workers characterize the complaints process as rife with bureaucratic complexity, risk, and unsuccessful payouts. Their experiences shed light on the efficacy of complaint-based approaches that are often promoted as a form of "bottom-up" enforcement of employment standards (ES). We demonstrate that the current ES complaints system requires workers to enact neoliberal entrepreneurialism (rather than agentic or collective entrepreneurialism) creating a highly stressful, enormously time-consuming, and demoralizing experience. We document the increasingly individualized and contradictory avenues through which workers must act as entrepreneurs to navigate and self-advocate when their rights have been violated. We argue that the current complaint processes limit the potentially empowering impact of this strategy.

Stress Proliferation? Precarity and Work–Family Conflict at the Intersection of Gender and Household Income

We theorize a stress proliferation process whereby the stress of job precarity translates into the stress of work-to-family conflict (WFC). We test whether this process differs by gender and household income. Using four cross-sectional waves of the General Social Survey ( N = 2,340), we find a positive association between job insecurity and WFC for women but not men. Examined by household income levels, the association is found only for respondents in the lowest income tercile. Furthermore, gender intersects with household income to shape the stress proliferation process. While the insecurity–WFC relationship holds for women across all household income levels, for men this relationship shifts from positive for men in the lowest income tercile to negative for men in the highest income tercile. Our findings suggest that entrenched gendered expectations around work and family may lead women (regardless of household income) and lower-class men to be most vulnerable to stress proliferation.

Evaluation of Benzene Exposure and Early Biomarkers of Kidney Damage in Children Exposed to Solvents Due to Precarious Work in Ticul, Yucatán, México.

Background:The child labor situation has been associated with precarious job conditions and poor health conditions because children are often exposed to unsafe work environments, stressful psycho-social work conditions, scarce or no access to protective services, and heavy work burdens.Objective:The aim of the study was to evaluate markers of exposure to benzene through the exposure biomarker trans, trans-muconic acid (tt-MA), and biomarkers of early renal damage in children who work in sites that are under precarious job conditions.Method:Samples of urine were obtained from children (aged 6–12 years old) who resided in Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico. Exposure to benzene was assessed through trans, trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA). Evaluated renal damage biomarkers were: Cystatin-C (Cys-C), Osteopontin (OPN), α1-Microglobulin (α1-MG) and Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL).Findings:Children who live where the workplace is inside the dwelling presented higher mean levels of tt-MA (0.59 mg/g creatinine) compared with those who live away from the workshops (0.19 mg/g creatinine). Likewise, mean levels of NGAL (4.7, 5.2 ng/ml), albuminuria (10, 10 ng/ml), Cys-C (11.8, 7.5 ng/ml), OPN (224.4, 226.5 ng/ml) and α1-MG (96.6, 73.6 ng/ml) were found in children where the workplace was inside the dwelling and outside, respectively.Conclusion:Our data indicate that the children who work under precarious job conditions are exposed to benzene, and they exhibit protein levels that suggest renal damage in a population in precarious working conditions. Therefore, the child population should be considered as the most vulnerable and susceptible to suffer adverse health effects.

Is the association between precarious employment and mental health mediated by economic difficulties in males? Results from two Italian studies

BackgroundFlexible employment is increasing across Europe and recent studies show an association with poor mental health. The goal of the current study is to examine this association in the Italian population to assess the possible mediating role of financial strain.MethodsData were obtained by two Italian cross-sectional studies (PASSI and HIS) aimed at monitoring the general population health status, health behaviours and determinants. Mental health status was assessed using alternatively two validated questionnaires (the PHQ-2 and the MCS-12 score) and Poisson regression models were performed to assess if precarious work was associated with poor mental health. A formal mediation analysis was conducted to evaluate if the association between precarious work and mental health was mediated by financial strain.ResultsThe analyses were performed on 31,948 subjects in PASSI and on 21,894 subjects in HIS. A nearly two-fold risk of depression and poor mental health was found among precarious workers, compared to workers with a permanent contract, which was strongly mediated by financial strain.ConclusionsEven with the limitations of a cross-sectional design, this research supports that precarious employment contributes through financial strain to reduce the mental health related quality of life and to increase mental disorders such as symptoms of depression or dysthymia. This suggests that when stability in work cannot be guaranteed, it would be appropriate to intervene on the wages of precarious jobs and to provide social safety nets for ensuring adequate income.

A RESEARCH ON YOUNG PEOPLE’SPERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS TRADE UNIONS

Gençler genellikle düşük ücretli, düşük statülü ve güvencesiz işlerde çalışmakta ve işgücü piyasasındaki konumları giderek daha fazla istikrarsızlığa maruz kalmakta dolayısıyla sendikal destek ve korumaya daha fazla ihtiyaç duymaları beklenilmektedir. Fakat tüm dünyada olduğu gibi, Türkiye'de de son yıllarda genç sendikalaşma oranı yetişkinlerin oranından daha hızlı düşmektedir. Bu çalışmada genç işgücünün düşük sendika üyelik oranlarının nedenleri arasında yer alan gençlerin sendikaya yönelik tutum ve davranışlarına odaklanılmaktadır. Çalışmanın evreni tam zamanlı/yarı zamanlı, dönemsel veya geçici olarak iş piyasasında yer alan 15-29 yaş grubunda yer alan gençler oluşturmaktadır. Veriler yüz yüze yapılan anket yöntemi ile toplanmış ve verilerin analizinde frekans dağılımı ve tanımlayıcı istatistikler kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları bize gençlerin sendikal tutum ve algılarının olumsuz olmasından ziyade sendika konusunda yeterli bilgiye sahip olmadıklarını, sendikaların da kendilerini anlatma ve tanıtma konusunda yetersiz ve işlevsiz kaldığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Challenges and Obstacles for Syrian Refugee Women in the Turkish Labor Market

The civil war in Syria resulted in the displacement of 5.7 million civilians between 2011 and 2018. Approximately four million of these civilians started to live in Turkey as refugees trying to integrate themselves into the labor market. The present research is a case study regarding the obstacles faced by Syrian refugee women’s access to the labor market in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. To this end, a survey was carried out on a population of 341 migrants under a temporary protection regime comprising 207 women. The results obtained indicate numerous problems and show the needs of Syrian women. For example, Turkish language fluency and low education and skill levels are among the largest barriers for employment. Moreover, the opacity of bureaucratic procedures and non-computerized work permit applications are shown to be another slowing factor in this process. Compared with their home countries, Syrian women are more active in Turkey. However, a majority is involved in precarious and seasonal jobs. The problems of childcare and the feudal (male-dominated) nature of many homes deter Syrian women from contributing economically, and despite being a generally young population, most hold seasonal jobs, which leave little opportunity for career development. It is recommended that, to overcome structural barriers in accessing the labor market, Syrian refugee women need long-term training rather than restrictive policies.

Баланс жизни и труда прекарных работников: гендерные аспекты

В статье рассматриваются особенности налаживания баланса жизни и труда прекарными работниками, чей режим работы и свободного времени существенно отличается от того, который предполагает «стандартная занятость» с регламентированным рабочим днем, стабильной зарплатой и трудовыми гарантиями. На примере эмпирического исследования, выполненного на базе 75 биографических интервью, автор показывает, что во многих случаях работники, особенно принадлежащие к младшим поколениям, выбирают свои прекарные рабочие места добровольно именно потому, что они позволяют им поддерживать более привлекательный для них баланс жизни и работы, предполагают большее пространство автономии и возможность уделять время семье и досугу. Нестабильность работы и заработка частично компенсируется для них легкой возможностью сменить работу (на такую же прекарную), что создает иллюзию независимости от работодателя. Такая стратегия связана также с отказом от карьерного роста и инвестиций в свое будущее (за исключением будущего своих детей, заботящего матерей — прекарных работниц), с очень короткими горизонтами планирования и, в известной степени, с вытеснением самой идеи «будущего» с жизненного горизонта. Демонстрируется также, что баланс жизни и труда у прекариев значительно зависит от гендерной принадлежности: женщины с детьми часто вытесняются в прекарную занятость из-за позиции работодателей, не желающих их рассматривать как постоянных работников, с одной стороны, и гендерным контрактом, обязывающим их посвятить значительную часть своей жизни заботе о семье, с другой.

Job Precarity, Contract Work, and Self-Care

Job precarity is an active and real issue in the libraries. This piece will explore job precarity as it applies libraries and the financial and emotional strain attached to it, with some strategies for self-care while applying to precarious work and in the positions themselves.

Tewerkstellingskwaliteit, gezondheid en welzijn voor werknemers en zelfstandigen

At the beginning of the 21st century, the standard employment relationship (SER) is no longer the only dominant form of organizing labour. Instead, a variety of employment arrangements have appeared, both for the waged and self-employed. It is, however, unclear how this relates to health consequences. This is why, we introduce a multidimensional account of employment quality as a health determinant. We ran two latent class cluster analyses to construct typologies of employment quality (using the European Working Conditions Survey); one for the waged employed and one for the self-employed. These typologies were then merged into one composite indicator. Ten types of employment quality were revealed: SER-like, instrumental, precarious unsustainable, precarious intensive and portfolio jobs – among the waged employed; and dependent, insecure and intensive self-employment, small to medium sized employers, and stable own account work – among the self-employed. By applying a multidimensional account and considering the employment quality of both the waged and self-employed, we have moved beyond simple distinctions of waged versus self-employment. Using logistic regression analysis, we furthermore found strong associations between the typology of employment quality and health outcomes. The worst health and well-being were found among insecure, dependent, and intensive self-employment, and among precarious intensive and precarious unsustainable jobs. We found worse health outcomes for the self-employed with poor employment quality compared to the waged employed with poor employment quality. The study shows that employment quality should be taken seriously as a health determinant and is equally applicable to the waged and the self-employed.

Multimodal divide: Reproduction of transport poverty in smart mobility trends

This paper makes a critical contribution to the discussion about the transition from an automobile society to a multimodal society in Western transport and mobility research, which is characterised by a flexible use of different transport options. This discussion is fuelled, in particular, by the emergence of smart mobility, in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) – e.g., the smartphone – are used to switch flexibly between new interconnected mobility services (such as carsharing, ridesharing, bikesharing, bus or train). The starting point for the scepticism towards this transition is the research on transport poverty, which problematizes social exclusions from participation in mobility due to the unequal distribution of mode options. This paper suggests a change of perspective from the real mode choice to potential/optional mode choice in order to account for this scepticism in the research on multimodal behaviours. Multioptionality is conceptualised as a necessary precondition for multimodal behaviours to achieve this change of perspective. Based on this conceptualisation, three theses result from a quantitative analysis of a data set from an area in the Rhine-Main region in Germany. The theses challenge the often-postulated potential ubiquity of multimodal behaviours: (i) Transport poverty – represented by a lack of mode options – inhibits the potential production of multimodal behaviours, particularly by socially marginalised people (low income, low education, precarious job situation, etc.). (ii) A multimodal divide describes the reproduction of transport poverty in the guise of modernisation, as the transport poor – with few mode options – also lack certain ICTs that provide central access media to smart mobility. (iii) Another (perfidious) form of social exclusion from participation in smart mobility concerns critical thinkers who avoid installing mobility applications to protect their privacy. This exclusion occurs because these apps do not have an alternative as access software to smart mobility.

A Multigroup Analysis of the Effect of Cognitive Appraisal on Nurses' Psychological Distress.

Cognitive appraisal constitutes an important mechanism in the process of human adaptation to work environment and occupational stress. In this domain, nursing professionals are one of the occupational groups most affected by job stress, suffering high levels of psychological distress. The aims of this study were to analyze the moderator effect of shift work and the type of job contract on the relationship between work cognitive appraisal and nurses' psychological distress and to explore the interaction effect of the two moderator variables on that relationship. A sample comprised of 2,310 Portuguese registered nurses completed a sociodemographic and professional questionnaire: the Primary and Secondary Cognitive Appraisal Scale and the General Health Questionnaire-12. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling and multigroup analyses considering the following groups: (a) "shift" versus "nonshift work"; (b) "precarious job contract" versus "nonprecarious job contract"; and (c) "shift and precarious" versus "shift and nonprecarious" versus "nonshift and precarious" versus "nonshift and nonprecarious." Data confirmed the invariance for the measurement model, but the structural model presented a significantly worse adjustment for all grouping variables, showing the moderator effect of shift work and job contract and of their interaction. Difference tests in structural path coefficients revealed that shift work moderated the relationship between challenge perception and psychological distress-which was stronger for shift work nurses-and that a higher threat perception was related to greater psychological distress, especially in nurses with a precarious job contract. Among the four categories of interaction between job contract and shift work, cognitive appraisal became central in predicting nurses' mental health, explaining more variance in the group that did shift work and had a nonprecarious job contract. The study results highlight the need to develop occupational health intervention programs to promote nurses' mental health, focusing on reducing work perception as a threat and on making nurses' jobs more challenging and controllable.

Is social assistance boosting the health of the poor? Results from Ontario and three countries

Social assistance programs supplement incomes of the most income-insecure. Because income is a fundamental source of health, income supplementation is expected to result in a boost to health status. As Canada finds itself in the midst of heated debate regarding the structuring (and restructuring) of social assistance programs, there is little evidence available for policymakers about the effectiveness of current social assistance programs in improving the health of the income-insecure. In this paper, we evaluate the health effects of social assistance programs in Ontario, Canada-wide and in peer programs from the United States and the United Kingdom. We used nationally representative household panel surveys (e.g., Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics) which follow individuals over time. Using fixed effects modelling, which controls for time-invariant characteristics of individuals, and further controlling for key time-varying characteristics, we modelled change in health status associated with change in receipt of social assistance in these societies. Health status was measured using self-rated health (fair/poor versus good/very good/excellent). Our results suggest that the health of social assistance recipients was worse (Ontario, Canada, UK) or no different (US) than the health of non-recipients. For example, in Canada, receipt of social assistance was associated with 52.5% higher odds of reporting fair or poor health. Social assistance programs in Canada and peer countries are currently inadequate for improving the health of the income-insecure. This is likely due to insufficient benefits, exposure to precarious job conditions, or selection factors.

Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong

Informed by autonomist perspectives on precarious work and labour subjectivity, this article discusses the dynamics between autonomy and job precarity. Based on purposive sampling, the qualitative findings, drawn from interviews with precarious workers aged 18–29 years in Hong Kong, reveal tensions among four types of aspirations. First, the desire for achieving freedom and individual ambition in work made the respondents critical of the notion of employment-related stability. Second, a determination to break with mainstream career paths empowered young people to take alternative pathways to new modes of work and life. Third, precarious employment was seen as a stepping stone for realising plans for travel or study. Finally, tolerance of precarity was perceived as a transitional stage in their striving for future stability. However, the findings also show the structured dilemmas experienced by young workers regarding the complex relationship between autonomy and precarity in a neoliberal labour market. Some young workers pursued work–life autonomy, constrained by precarious employment relations, acknowledging and bearing the costs, while some strategically used precarity in individual negotiations with employers to realise their goals. This article analyses young workers’ subjectivity through the lenses of autonomy and age and pushes the boundary of precarity studies beyond an implicit dichotomy between determinism and voluntarism.JEL codes: I38, J38, J62

“Bad jobs”: a case study of toilet attendants

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of precarious and low-quality jobs with the study of toilet attendants, an ideal typical case of low-wage manual service workers who are excluded from secure wages, decent working conditions, and employment protection.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive survey with standardized questionnaires (n=107) and in-depth interviews (n=10) of toilet attendants in Belgian towns, mostly Brussels and Ghent. Results are compared to the work quality of low-skilled workers, and the within-group position of necessity workers is analysed.FindingsToilet attendants definitely occupy “bad jobs”, measured by the higher prevalence of informal and false self-employed statuses, more intense work-life conflicts and verbal aggression from clients, and a lower job satisfaction. In all these respects, they perform worse than other low-skilled workers. Concurrently, there is a strong within-group divide between necessity workers and those who see the job as an opportunity. Despite a similar job content, necessity workers less often earn a decent wage, suffer more from customer aggression, lack social support and pleasure from work. Mechanisms related to self-selection and the absence of intrinsic rewards explain these in-group differences.Originality/valueThis contribution indicates, first, that job insecurity spills over into poor working conditions, work-life conflicts, and customer aggression. Furthermore, it documents that jobs are not necessarily bad in themselves, but become problematic when taken up by people with too few choices and too pressing socio-economic needs. Problems of sub-standard jobs are not merely job problems but problems of workers in a certain position.

Unsavoury Employer Practices: Understanding Temporary Migrant Work in the Australian Food Services Sector

Why do employers in specific sectors use migrant workers to a significant extent? Taking temporary migrant work in the Australian food services sector as a case study, this article argues that employer demand for migrant workers is shaped by two forms of social regulation: the immigration controls that create a supply of different kinds of migrant workers, and the labour market norms and institutions that operate within a specific industrial sector. Specifically, the article argues that the cost-minimization strategy of the Australian food services sector in conjunction with its precarious work norms result in ‘demand’ on the part of employers in the sector for vulnerable workers to perform precarious jobs. Such ‘demand’ is met in part by the workers supplied through temporary labour migration programs who may be an attractive form of precarious labour because of the conditionalities they experience. The normalization of noncompliance with labour laws by food services employers, that stems from the broader culture of illegality in the sector, further heightens the vulnerability (and attractiveness) of temporary migrant labour, allowing employers to ‘demand’ illegal working conditions.