Employmentweb_low

employment relations and health inequalities: a conceptual and empirical overvieW
given up the job search entirely, or is working but living on less than US$2
a day. In fact, in absolute worldwide numbers, the number of working
people living on US$2 a day has continued to grow, reaching 1.37 billion
in 2006 (IlO, 2004; 2006).
While the situation is considerably better in most OECD and EU
countries, the condition of temporary employment appears as a
consistent indicator of precarious employment, which gives us good
means of measuring this phenomenon in the west. Temporary
employment, first of all, refers to workers on fixed-term contracts and on
temporary agency contracts, as well as workers with part-time positions
(see Figure 10). They constitute a rather diverse group that work in a
wide range of sectors and occupations, and for both public and private
employers. However, temporary jobs are disproportionately held by
younger workers, women, and those employed in low-skill occupations,
agriculture and small firms.
Temporary labour is also typically characterised by precarious
employment and working conditions. Workers are less satisfied with their
jobs and more often report inflexible work schedules, monotonous work
tasks and worse working conditions. Temporary jobs tend to pay less than
permanent jobs and often offer less access to paid vacations, paid sick leave,
unemployment insurance, pensions and other fringe benefits, as well as less
access to training. although nominally covered by virtually all public schemes
and many voluntary, employer-provided schemes, the real eligibility of
temporary workers appears to be substantially lower in many cases. This is
because eligibility criteria for social benefits typically include minimum
contribution periods. In other words, temporary employment per se rarely
disqualifies workers. Since they have temporary contracts, most of these
workers do not meet this minimum time requirement and are thus excluded
from benefits in the end (OECD, 2002).
In the end, flexible, temporary jobs and all kinds of precarious
employment can be just as dangerous for workers as unemployment.
Indeed, employees in flexible jobs share many labour market
characteristics (e.g., lower credentials, low income, or being women,
immigrants, and non-whites) with the unemployed, while experiencing
themselves bouts of unemployment, a factor strongly associated with
adverse health outcomes. Therefore, even if precarious employment has
only a modest impact on individual health, given the growing number of
employees exposed, the magnitude of the potential impact on their
overall health might be large. Moreover, the effects of precarious
employment may be devastating not only to the health of the worker but
also to the health and wellbeing of the family members and dependents
who rely on income from the worker (Benach & Muntaner, 2007; Benach,
Benavides, Platt, Diez-roux, & Muntaner, 2000).
"Life is hard. i caught my fingers in one of
the machines six months ago. The boss
was furious. He had to pay fifty dollars for
me to see a doctor. The pain is incredible
still. He says i have to work day and night
to pay him back. But what choice do i have
At least i have food and shelter. in China, i
had nothing."
source: lee-potter, a. (2007, may 7).
designer labels’ sweatshop scandal.
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