23/01/2007
A study of the health of workers has found that men in temporary jobs are more likely to suffer health problems than men in secure employment. Dr Vanessa Gash spent two years examining health statistics of Spanish and German workers. The results, she says, are relevant to any country where there are temporary workers - including the UK. She says her findings found fixed-term contract workers are more likely to die from alcohol and smoking related causes than permanent workers. Dr Gash said: 'Getting a job is good for your health, but according to our research it's less good for your health if you have a fixed-term contract - especially if you're a man.' She said frequent job loss 'often results in unemployment which usually causes a deterioration of general health indicators and health status. Fixed-term contract workers are also disproportionately affected by job insecurity which is also thought to affect health status.
There may also be stresses linked to the comparatively poor job quality of some fixed-term jobs which tend to be relatively low paid.' Dr Gash said there was a 'major trend' towards temporary contracts across Europe. 'In Spain where we did some of our work, a third of all workers are on fixed-term contracts,' she said. 'But it's also common in the UK especially as according to a recent EU report, new forms of work arrangements - including freelance or temporary agency workers - have increased to almost 40 per cent in 2005 across the EU.' Precarious work has been linked to host of workplace injury and ill-health risks, with studies showing the health of insecure workers is between that of the secure - healthiest - workers and the unemployed.
