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Precarious Employment: Understanding an Emerging Social Determinant of Health
Abstract
Employment precariousness is a social determinant that affects the health of workers, families, and communities. Its recent popularity has been spearheaded by three main developments: the surge in "flexible employment" and its associated erosion of workers' employment and working conditions since the mid-1970s; the growing interest in social determinants of health, including employment conditions; and the availability of new data and information systems. This article identifies the historical, economic, and political factors that link precarious employment to health and health equity; reviews concepts, models, instruments, and findings on precarious employment and health inequalities; summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of this literature; and highlights substantive and methodological challenges that need to be addressed. We identify two crucial future aims: to provide a compelling research program that expands our understanding of employment precariousness and to develop and evaluate policy programs that effectively put an end to its health-related impacts.
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“Especially in cases of precarious employment (Benach et al., 2014) or very low overall household income, monetary rewards might have an overall higher relevance for individuals' job satisfaction, irrespective of their age (cf., Layard, Mayraz, & Nickell, 2008).”
From What satisfies younger versus older employees, and why? An aging perspective on equity theory to explain interactive effects of employee age, monetary rewards, and task contributions on job satisfaction (2020) · cites this paper as Benach et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“However, today approximately two billion workers worldwide have precarious jobs that lack social protection (77).”
From Bridging Sectors and Disciplines to Gain a Critical Understanding of the Eco-Social Determinants of Health Inequities: The ESDHI-EU Conference (2025) · cites this paper as [77]
In the citing paper
“The precariousness of an occupation is a critical determinant to the health and safety of workers (1–3).”
From Large language model exposure and precarious occupations: Unpacking relationships in the Canadian labor force (2026) · cites this paper as [1]
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“Over the past few decades, transformative technological, economic, and political changes surrounding work have left many insecure about the future of their jobs (Benach et al., 2014).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Benach, J., Vives, A., Amable, M., Vanroelen, C., Tarafa, G., & Muntaner, C.
- Affiliations
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL)
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
- Venue
- Annual Review of Public Health
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2014-03-18
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 229-253
- ISSN
- 0163-7525 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-2093
- OpenAlex
- W2110313855
- Cited by
- 1,354
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 126 · 2025: 88 · 2024: 117 · 2023: 219 · 2022: 160 · 2021: 160 · 2020: 125 · 2019: 120 · 2018: 67 · 2017: 86 · 2016: 47 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 8
- FWCI
- 9.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Public Health and Social Inequalities
- Keywords
- precarious employment, social determinants of health, flexible employment, health disparities, health equity, working conditions, labour market policy, health policy evaluation
- MeSH terms
- Employment, Health Services, Health Status, Humans, Mental Health, Politics, Public Assistance, Global Health, Epidemiologic Research Design, Epidemiologic Studies, Health Status Disparities, Economic Recession, Social Determinants of Health
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