Precarious employment and health-related outcomes in the European Union: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the associations between precarious employment and health-related outcomes in salaried workers from 28 countries in Europe (2014). We used data from the Flash Eurobarometer 398 among salaried workers (n = 7,702). We fitted multi-level generalized linear models (GLMM) using the Poisson family and country as the random effect, to calculate the crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their 95%CI of health-related outcomes (health problems, sick leave, health and safety risks in the workplace) according to precarious employment. We found significant associations between having a precarious employment and health problems caused or worsened by the work (stress/depression/anxiety, musculoskeletal problems, infectious diseases, respiratory problems, accidents/injuries and allergies), sick leave of more than 15 days [aPR: 1.43, (CI95%: 1.09;1.87)] and exposure to violence or harassment [aPR: 1.82, (CI95%: 1.42;2.34)]. Our study shows an association of precarious employment, understood as a multidimensional construct, and negative health-related outcomes and sick leave of more than 15 days. Therefore, we recommend prioritizing legislative measures for reducing non-standard arrangements and for improving the conditions of workers in non-standard arrangements.

KEYWORDS:

• Precarious employment
• European Union
• employment conditions
• health problems
• sick leave
• risk exposure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary data can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Departament d’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa, Generalitat de Catalunya [2017SGR608].