National Poverty Center researchers: perceived job insecurity impacts mental health

Mental health consequences of the Great Recession may extend to workers who perceive job insecurity, even if they have avoided unemployment, according to researchers working with data from the National Poverty Center's Michigan Recession and Recovery Study.

In "Perceived Job Insecurity and Health: The Michigan Recession and Recovery Study," Sarah A. Burgard, Lucie Kalousova, and Kristin S. Seefeldt compare the health of participants who felt likely to lose their jobs in the next 12 months to participants who felt their jobs were more secure. Compared to secure workers, insecure workers were significantly more likely to meet criteria for depression and to report a recent anxiety attack, even after adjustment for their less advantaged sociodemographic characteristics, poorer prior health, and higher likelihood of recent unemployment.

[Read the working paper]