Uønsket midlertidig beskæftigelse og psykisk helbred

Involuntary temporary employment and mental health

Abstract

Since the 1970s, jobs characterized by temporary arrangements, such as temporary positions or project-based contracts, have grown in number in most Western countries. While some employees actively choose this type of employment to allocate more time to other activities, for others it is a necessary step to enter the job market, leading to feelings of insecurity and psychological vulnerability. In this article, we analyze the link between involuntary temporary employment and employees’ use of prescription medication for anxiety and stress. The data are based on a cohort design that combines survey responses from the Labor Force Survey with registry data on employees’ use of prescription medication. Our results show that women in long-term involuntary temporary employment (one and a half years or more) face a 13 percentage point increased risk of using prescription medication. For shorter employment periods, the negative effects of involuntary temporary employment are relatively small. For women, the analysis indicates that an involuntary temporary position lasting three months or less reduces the risk of using prescription medication by one percentage point. For men in involuntary temporary employment, we find no evidence of increased risk for negative mental health outcomes, either in the short or long term