24 October, 2008New Canadian research finds a link between "precarious employment" and poor mental health.
CANADA: According to a recently released study, precarious working conditions can have a profound affect on the health outcome of workers. The study, conducted by Dr. Charles Mutaner of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, shows that part-time workers with no job security will develop more physical and mental health problems than their full-time counterparts.
The study shows that precarious employment conditions can create inequality in the workplace, such as lower wages, or non-payment of pensions, sick leave and other benefits enjoyed by regular, full-time workers in the same position. Adding to this is the fear of termination. This fear prevents temporary and part-time workers from speaking up and asserting their rights when faced with harassment and/or unfair or unsafe working conditions.
According to Mutaner and his research team, when compared with those with full-time work with benefits, workers who report employment insecurity experience significant adverse effects on their physical and mental health. The research team have also found that stress at work is associated with a 50 per cent excess risk of coronary heart disease, and there is consistent evidence that jobs with high demands, low control, and effort-reward imbalance are risk factors for mental and physical health problems.
The findings of this research project are part of a landmark study by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the social determinants of health. In the final report called: Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health the WHO made several recommendations including calling for governments to "make full and fair employment and decent work a central goal of national and international social and economic policy-making".
For more details on the CAMH study got to: http://www.camh.net/News_events/News_releases_and_media_advisories_and_backgrounders/WHO_work_report_muntaner.html
For a copy of the World Health Organization's report on social determinants of health go to: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/final_report/en/
Find out more about IMF's global mobilisation against precarious work at: www.imfmetal.org/precariouswork