Dualized Labor Market and Polarized Health: A Longitudinal Perspective on the Association between Precarious Employment and Mental and Physical Health in Germany

Abstract

This study analyzes the longitudinal association between precarious employment and physical and mental health in a dualized labor market by disaggregating between-employee and within-employee effects and considering mobility in precariousness of employment. Analyses were based on the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2002 to 2018 considering all employees ages 18 to 67 years (n = 38,551). Precariousness of employment was measured as an additive index considering working poverty, nonstandard working time arrangements, perceived job insecurity, and low social rights. Health outcomes were mental and physical health. Random effects models were used and controlled for sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables. Results indicated that the association between precariousness of employment and mental and physical health is mainly based on between-employee differences and that prolonged precariousness of employment or upward or downward mobility are associated with poor health. We found evidence of polarization in health by precariousness of employment within a dualized labor market.

How Working Conditions, Socioeconomic Insecurity, and Behavior-Related Factors Mediate the Association Between Working Poverty and Health in Germany

“…However, the study has some limitations. First, results indicated significant but rather small differences in physical and mental health by working poverty status, especially in comparison to studies with a single-item health outcome [ 5 , 49 ]. Various aspects may have contributed to this.…”

“…Moreover, several authors highlighted that deprivation in living standards results from a prolonged spell of insufficient income when financial savings are exhausted [ 37 ]. Therefore, deprivation might also imply a deep and long-lasting socioeconomic disadvantage over the life course, which contributes to the hypothesis that the working poor differ strongly in their socioeconomic and health situation from other employees [ 5 , 49 ].…”

The Emergence of Precarious Employment as a Determinant of Health in Europe and the Relevance of Contextual Factors: A Critical Research Synthesis

“…A labor market is described as dualized when a group of workers are systematically excluded from regular employment, whereas regular workers are protected from the consequences of market fluctuations. 21 This dualization of labor markets is policy-based and has been institutionalized since the 1980s in various countries such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. 72…”

“…20 Recent studies also point to a consolidation of precarious employment, resulting in a polarization in health between precarious and non-precarious workers. 12,21 The association between precarious employment and health is explained at the individual level by two mechanisms. 3,22 A first explanatory approach considers the physical and psychosocial burdens at the workplace and at the household level of precarious employees as central risks for poorer health.…”

How our longitudinal employment patterns might shape our health as we approach middle adulthood—US NLSY79 cohort

“…Our understanding of the links between work schedules and sleep and health has also been refined through increasingly sophisticated data, including from small cross-sectional samples [ 12 , 25 ], nationally representative samples [ 1 , 26 ], and panel data [ 27 , 28 ]. For example, using two-year longitudinal data on approximately 1,500 Norweigan nurses, Waage and colleagues found that nurses working night hours the prior year were more likely to report acute sleepiness or insomnia related to shiftwork in the current year [ 27 ].…”