Research Finds Persistent Job Insecurity Impacts Worker Health

In an environment where job security is not always present, new research findings suggest that persistent job insecurity poses a major threat to worker health. This study, out of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, used long-term data from two nationally representative sample surveys of the U.S. population to assess the impact of chronic job insecurity.

“Dramatic changes in the U.S. labor market have weakened bonds between employers and employees and fueled perceptions of job insecurity,” said University of Michigan sociologist Sarah Burgard, in a Science Daily piece. Burgard is a research assistant professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research.

“This study provides the strongest evidence to date that persistent job insecurity has a negative impact on worker health. In fact, chronic job insecurity was a stronger predictor of poor health than either smoking or hypertension in one of the groups we studied.”

Burgard highlighted that chronically high job-insecurity is more strongly linked with health declines than actual job loss or unemployment. Reasons for this include ongoing ambiguity about the future, inability to take action unless the feared event actually happens, and the lack of organized support associated with this perceived insecurity.

At any given time during the study, as many as 18 percent of those surveyed reported they felt insecure about their jobs. Burgard argues that the findings have potential implications for both policy and intervention.

“Programs designed for displaced or unemployed workers are unlikely to solve the problems faced by workers who are still employed but are persistently insecure about their jobs,” she said. “When you consider that not only income but so many of the important benefits that give Americans some piece of mind—including health insurance and retirement benefits—are tied to employment for most people, it’s understandable that persistent job insecurity is so stressful.