ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug 31, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Persistent job insecurity --
not necessarily job loss -- poses a major threat to worker health, U.S.
researchers found.
Sociologist Sarah Burgard and James House of the University of Michigan and
Jennie Brand at the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed data on more
than 1,700 adults collected over periods from 3-10 years. By interviewing the
same people at different points in time, the researchers were able to
disentangle the connection between poor health and job insecurity, and to
control for the impact of actual job loss and other factors.
One of the studies was conducted between 1986 and 1989 and the other between
1995 and 2005.
"It may seem surprising that chronically high job-insecurity is more strongly
linked with health declines than actual job loss or unemployment," Burgard said
in a statement. "Ongoing ambiguity about the future, inability to take action
unless the feared event actually happens, and the lack of institutionalized
supports associated with perceived insecurity are among them."
To measure feelings of job insecurity, study participants were asked, "How
likely is that during the next couple of years you will involuntarily lose your
main job?" At any given time, as many as 18 percent of those surveyed felt
insecure about their jobs, the study said.
The findings are published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International