• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.388-396
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• 2007

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the differences in employment status and self assessed health in Korea. Methods: We analyzed 4 year follow-up data generated by the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS), which was conducted on 1,207 men and 582 women who had undergone a change in employment status. The study subjects were placed into 1 of the following 4 groups based on their employment history; Non-precarious workers, Precarious to non-precarious workers, Non-precarious to precarious workers and Precarious workers. Logistic regression was then used to examine the relationship between the changes in employment status and self assessed health. Results: When males were considered, self assessed health was better among the precarious to non-precarious workers (OR 1.58, 95% CI=1.57-1.60) and the precarious workers (OR 1.29, 95% CI=1.28-1.30) than in the non-precarious workers, after adjusting for age, socioeconomic status (education level, occupational class, marital status, average equivalent household income and average number of hours worked per week), health behavior (smoking, drinking and exercise) and medical service access (regular medical examination, have chronic disease or hospitalized within 1 year). When female workers were considered, the precarious to non-precarious workers (OR 1.89, 95% CI=1.86-1.92), non-precarious to precarious workers(OR 1.24, 95% CI=1.23-1.26) and precarious workers (OR 1.27, 95% CI=1.25-1.28) all reported poorer health than the non-precarious workers after adjusting for the aforementioned factors. Conclusions: This study showed that changes in employment status were associated with differences in self assessed health among men and women. Specifically, the results of this study showed that a corresponding positive outcome based on self assessed health was greater for employees that changed from precarious to non-precarious jobs and for male employees with precarious jobs., whereas female employees with non-precarious jobs had higher self assessed health. However, additional longitudinal studies on the health effects of employment status should be conducted.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.476-482
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• 2023

Introduction: There is a growing global interest in the issue of precarious employment. We aimed to analyze the characteristics and socio-demographic distribution of precarious employment using a summative score approach. Methods: To operationalize precarious employment, we utilized data from the Korean Working Conditions Survey and focused on three distinct dimensions: employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and a lack of rights and protections. By constructing a summative scale ranging from -16 to 2, with lower scores indicating higher precariousness, we measured employment precariousness among Korean wage workers. To compare employment precariousness according to survey participant characteristics, we employed the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test. Results: We analyzed a weighted number of 38,432 workers. The overall sample showed a median (Q1, Q3) summative scale score of -3 (-6, -1). The median summative score was lower for women compared to men (men: -2; women: -5; p < 0.001), as well as for young or older workers compared to middle-aged workers (young: -4; middle-aged: -2; older: -5; p < 0.001). Similarly, workers with lower educational levels (middle school or below: -8; high school: -5; college or above: -2; p < 0.001) and non-white collar workers (blue collar: -5; service/sales worker: -6; white collar: -2; p < 0.001) experienced higher levels of employment precariousness. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that certain vulnerable groups, such as women, young or older adults, workers with low educational attainment, and caregiving or low-skilled elementary workers, are disproportionately exposed to high employment precariousness. Active policy interventions are needed to improve the employment quality of vulnerable groups.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.108-113
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• 2021

Background: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between changes in employment status and new-onset depressive symptoms through a one-year follow-up of permanent waged workers. Methods: We analyzed the open-source data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study. Using the 2017 data, we selected 2,314 permanent waged workers aged 19 to 59 years without depressive symptoms as a base group. The final analysis targeted 2,073 workers who were followed up in 2018. In 2018, there were five categories of employment status for workers who were followed up: permanent, precarious, unemployed, self-employed, and economically inactive. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the association between employment status change and new-onset depressive symptoms. Results: Adjusted multiple logistic regression analysis showed that among male workers, workers who went from permanent status to being unemployed (odds ratio: 4.50, 95% confidence interval: 1.19 to 17.06) and from permanent status to being precarious workers (odds ratio: 3.15, 95% confidence interval: 1.30 to 7.65) had significantly high levels of new-onset depressive symptoms compared with those who retained their permanent employment status. There were no significant increases in new-onset depressive symptoms of male workers who went from permanent status to being self-employed or economically inactive. On the other hand, no significant differences were found among female workers. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the change of employment status to precarious workers or unemployment can cause new-onset depressive symptoms in male permanent waged workers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.677-688
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• 2022

Precarious employment is negatively associated with mental health including depression. The aim of the study is to suggest the multidimensional definition of precarious employment and examine its impacts on depression. Using the fifth save of the Korean Working Condition Survey, we first measured six different dimensions of employment precariousness: temporariness, disempowerment, vulnerability, difficulty exercising rights, unpredictability of working times, and low wage. All of six precariousness indicators consisted of a scale from 0 to 100. Then, we conducted logistic regression to examine the association between employment precariousness and depression. For men, the risk of depression increased by 3.1%, 1%, and 0.5%, respectively, for each one point increase in vulnerability, difficulty in exercising rights, and unpredictability of working times. For women, the risk increased by 0.5%, 2.3%, and 0.8%, respectively, for each one point increase in temporariness, vulnerability, and difficulty in exercising rights. Our findings suggest that not only a secure employment contract, but also their substantive labor rights should be guaranteed for health for workers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.167-174
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• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the accessibility of dental care services among individuals with precarious employment in South Korea. Methods: We used the $9^{th}$ wave of the Korean Health Panel data (2015) and included 7,736 wage and non-wage earners in our study. We determined precariousness in the labor market as a combination of employment relationship and job income, and categorized individuals based on this into the following four groups: Group A comprising those who report job and income security, Group B comprising those who experience job insecurity alone, Group C comprising those who report a stable job but low income, and Group D comprising those who experience both job and income insecurity. Accessibility to dental care services was determined by experience of unmet dental care needs and unmet dental care needs caused primarily by financial burden. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the effect of precarious work on access to dental care services. Results: Individuals with job insecurity (Group B; OR=1.445; 95% CI=1.22-1.70) and both job and income insecurity (Group D; OR=1.899; 95% CI=1.61-2.24) were more likely to have unmet needs than the comparison group. Both groups B and D were also 2.048 (95% CI=1.57-2.66) times and 4.435 (95% CI =3.46-5.68) times more likely, respectively, to have unmet dental care needs caused by financial burden. Education status, health insurance, and health status were all also effective factors influencing unmet dental care needs. Conclusions: Unstable employment and low income resulted in diminished access to dental care services. Therefore, governments should consider health policy solutions to reduce barriers preventing individuals with employment and income instability from accessing adequate dental care.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.1-29
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• 2017

This study compares and analyzes precarious labor market in Korea and Japan in terms of gender and occupational class. Previous studies have analyzed precarious labor limited to the level of employment type such as non-standard workers. This study reconceptualizes precarious labor in terms of the combination of employment relations and income level. In addition. we analyzed whether there are differences in the characteristics of precarious labor between Korea and Japan. In order to analyze the labor market precariousness in Korea. we used data from the 17th Korea Labor Panel Survey (2014) and for Japan. we used the 9th (2012) data from the Keio Household Panel Survey. As a result. we could confirm the feminization of labor market precariousness and horizontal division by occupation in both Korea and Japan. Also. ordered logistic regression analysis showed that the more women. and those in their 60s or older. the less skilled service workers. or the manufacturing workers are likely to face labor market instability in both Korea and Japan. The results of this analysis reflect the fact that Korea and Japan have experienced similar changes in the labor market structure with institutionalized employment protection system based on male workers.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.31-41
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• 2018

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate whether employment status is associated with the experience of unmet care needs. Methods: This study utilized the Korea Health Panel data from 2012 to 2016. A total of 4,083 workers were selected as baseline subjects in 2012 and were followed for four years. This study used the GLIMMIX procedure under the marginal model while adjusting for covariates. Results: A total of 12.4% of 4,083 people said they had failed at least once to have a treatment or checkup despite the needs. Those more likely to experience unmet care needs were women and people of lower income level, with worse health conditions and chronic disease. Precarious workers, the self-employed, and the unemployed were more likely to experience unmet care needs caused by economic burden than permanent workers (Odds Ratio: 2.14, 2.07, 2.74, respectively). Conclusions: This disparity means that precarious workers and the unemployed are more likely to face barriers in obtaining needed health services. Given their insecure employment status, meeting their needs for health care is an important consideration.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2022

Background: Despite a growing number of investigations exploring the health problems in precarious workers, there is still a paucity of studies investigating workplace violence in workers with multi-party employment arrangements (WMPEAs). This study was aimed at comparing the prevalence of workplace violence between non-WMPEA and WMPEA. Methods: The 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey data were used. The study subjects were employees aged 20-74, with 26,239 non-WMPEA and 1,556 WMPEA. WMPEA included temporary agency workers and workers providing outsourced services. Workplace violence including verbal abuse, unwanted sexual attention, threats, and humiliating behaviors were used as outcome variables. The odds ratios of risk of workplace violence were calculated using multiple logistic regression. Results: The age-standardized prevalence of workplace violence was significantly higher among WMPEA. After adjusting for all covariates, the risk of workplace violence among WMPEA was still significant (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.5-2.2) compared with non-WMPEA. The odds ratio of workplace violence among female WMPEA was 1.99 (95% CI 1.53-2.59), which is higher than that of male WMPEA (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.18-1.96). Conclusion: We found that WMPEA were exposed to higher risk of workplace violence. Discrimination against WMPEA in the working environment and management policy need to be corrected. It is also necessary to identify the risk factors of workplace violence in WMPEA and to make efforts to prevent violence.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.727-745
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• 2017

This study purported to examine the effects of precarious employment and social capital on the changes of self-rated health status among the middle aged and the young-old population in South Korea. The study analyzed 12 year follow-up data generated by the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS 6-17), which included 10532 employed subjects aged 55 to 75. Multi-level growth curve modeling was performed by fixed and random effect models using STATA 13.0 program. Afterwards, Hausman test was performed, which resulted in support of the estimation by fixed effect model. The results showed that a day labor position was significant factor affecting the deteriorated changes of self-rated health status over time. In addition, wage, weekly working hours, and private/relational social capitals were also found to be significant factors affecting the changes of the self-rated health status. The results supported the divergence hypothesis as well as the cumulative advantage theory. Efforts should be made to develop and implement various employment support policies and social service programs to alleviate the health inequality of the employed workers over their middle-aged to young-old period.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2021

Background: The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationships musculoskeletal pains with combined vulnerability in terms of age, gender, and employment status Methods: The fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) in 2010 (43,816 participants aged 15 years and over) analyzed for European employees and the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) in 2011 (50,032 participants aged 15 years and older) analyzed for Korean employees. In this study, three well known vulnerable factors to musculoskeletal pains (older age, female gender, and precarious employment status) were combined and defined as combined vulnerability. Associations of musculoskeletal pains with combined vulnerability were assessed with prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated by Poisson regression models with robust estimates of variance. Results: The prevalences of musculoskeletal pains were lower but the absolute and relative differences between combined vulnerabilities were higher among Korean employees compared with the European employees. Furthermore, the increased risk of having musculoskeletal pains according to combined vulnerability was modestly explained by socioeconomic factors and exposure to ergonomic risk factors, especially in Republic of Korea. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the labor market may be more unfavorable for female and elderly workers in Republic of Korea. Any prevention strategies to ward off musculoskeletal pains, therefore, should be found and implemented to mitigate or buffer against the most vulnerable work population, older, female, and precarious employment status, in Republic of Korea.