Men and Women Encounter Similar Rates of Anxiety Due to Job Insecurity

Job insecurity is rising as more people work temporary gigs with little protection or fear layoffs in an unstable economy. These stresses naturally contribute to poor mental health and anxiety feelings. But given gender disparities in the workforce, women are more likely to work temporary jobs and get paid less. Hence researchers were curious whether job insecurity affected men and women differently. The findings of the study are published in the journal Frontiers in Sociology. The study analyzed data from the European working conditions survey. The survey inquired people to what extent they thought they might lose their job in the next six months and whether they had encountered anxiety over the last 12 months. The study found that men and women actually reacted fairly similarly to job insecurity. Female workers reported similar anxiety rates due to an insecure job to their male counterparts.

But while men and women might be affected at related rates, Riva, a co-author of the study states that job insecurity is pretty much still a real concern. "Public health outcomes of job insecurity should be seriously considered, given that recent developments and reforms and the current COVID-19 crisis, could likely result in a greater prevalence of workers, feeling threatened by involuntary job loss," he said.

In order to examine whether the threat of job insecurity was more pronounced in certain European countries due to cultural, socioeconomic, or political variables, Riva and his co-author, Dr. Anna Bracci, used multilevel modeling analyses and found few cross-national differences in their results, meaning the link between job insecurity and anxiety did not differ between countries.

Riva states that the findings "have practical suggestions for both policymakers and employers" and recommends that "generous and more effective active labor market programs are required" to address perceived job insecurity and its associated mental health challenges.

Source-Medindia