Citation

Milner A, Lamontagne AD. Occup. Environ. Med. 2016; 74(5): 344-350.

Affiliation

Work, Health and Wellbeing Unit, Centre for Population Health Research, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/oemed-2016-103706

PMID

27864432

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Underemployment occurs when workers are available for more hours of work than offered. It is a serious problem in many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and particularly in Australia, where it affects about 8% of the employed population. This paper seeks to answer the question: does an increase in underemployment have an influence on mental health? METHODS: The current paper uses data from an Australian cohort of working people (2001-2013) to investigate both within-person and between-person differences in mental health associated with being underemployed compared with being fully employed. The main exposure was underemployment (not underemployed, underemployed 1-5, 6-10, 11-20 and over 21 hours), and the outcome was the five-item Mental Health Inventory.

RESULTS: Results suggest that stepwise declines in mental health are associated with an increasing number of hours underemployed.

RESULTS were stronger in the random-effects (11-20 hours =-1.53, 95% CI -2.03 to -1.03, p<0.001; 21 hours and over -2.24, 95% CI -3.06 to -1.43, p<0.001) than fixed-effects models (11-20 hours =-1.11, 95% CI -1.63 to -0.58, p<0.001; 21 hours and over -1.19, 95% CI -2.06 to -0.32, p=0.008). This likely reflects the fact that certain workers were more likely to suffer the negative effects of underemployment than others (eg, women, younger workers, workers in lower-skilled jobs and who were casually employed).

CONCLUSIONS: We suggest underemployment to be a target of future workplace prevention strategies.

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Language: en