Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnt, Work, And hEAlth InEquAlItIEs - a global perspective
often, have less freedom to choose when they take personal leave
(letourneux, 1998) and are far less likely to be represented on health
and safety committees (Quinlan & Mayhew, 2000). a systematic review
of studies on temporary employment and health suggests that
temporary workers suffer from a higher risk of occupational injuries as
compared with permanent employees (Virtanen et al., 2005), a finding
which has been repeated in a more recent study with both administrative
and field data (fabiano, curro, reverberi, & Pastorino, 2008). another
study has shown that several forms of temporary employment are
associated with higher rates of musculoskeletal disorders and
psychosomatic symptoms than are found for permanent
employment (aronsson, Gustaffson, & dallner, 2002). in
addition, non-permanent workers know less about their
work environment, feel more constrained by their status to
complain about work hazards, and have more difficulties for
changing their working conditions (aronsson, 1999).
Workers under situations of precarious employment may
face greater demands or have lower control over the work
process, two factors which have been associated with
higher levels of stress, higher levels of dissatisfaction, and
more adverse health outcomes. for example, workers with
Carrier in a street market in la paz (Bolivia).
temporary contracts are twice as likely as permanent
source: Joan benach (2010)
workers to report job dissatisfaction, even after adjusting
for various individual- and country-level variables (Benach, Gimeno,
Benavides, Martínez, & Torné, 2004). non-permanent workers enjoy
less job autonomy and control over time on the job than workers with
permanent contracts, are likely to be employed in less-skilled jobs
(eurofound, 2001) and have worse health outcomes when compared with
permanent workers (Benavides, Benach, diez-roux, & romana, 2000;
Kivimäki et al., 2003; Benavides et al., 2006). Temporary jobs tend to
have lower wages than permanent jobs and often have lower benefits
such as paid vacations, sick leave, unemployment insurance and other
fringe benefits, as well as less access to training. all these adverse
factors may increase the risk of developing behaviours which put one’s
health at risk, as well as of producing detrimental psychological and
physio-pathological changes, which lead to poorer health outcomes. for
example, there is evidence that temporary employment is associated
with increased deaths from alcohol-related causes and smoking-related
cancer (Kivimäki et al., 2003).
evidence from psychosocial studies has also provided important
results. The experience of job insecurity has been associated with poorer
physical and mental health outcomes (ferrie, shipley, Marmot, stansfeld,
& smith, 1998). in one study, perceived job insecurity was the single most
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