In this study, the authors investigate the health associations of different employment arrangements in the contemporary European labor market. In doing so, a new approach based on the concept of “employment quality” is introduced. Employment quality refers to the multiple dimensions characterizing the employment situation of wage- and self-employed (European Working Conditions Survey 2015 – N = 31,929). Latent class cluster analyses were applied to construct an overarching typology of employment quality for the waged and self-employed. Using logistic regression analyses, strong associations were found with mental well-being and self-reported general health, pointing at a disadvantaged situation for the most precarious employment arrangements. The study shows that employment quality should be taken seriously as a health determinant both among waged workers and the self-employed. Our (novel) holistic approach offers an alternative to current analyses of the health associates of labor market segmentation that were criticized for being overly simplistic and amounting to inconclusive findings.
AminA. (1994). Post-fordism: A reader.
Blackwell Publishers.
2.
AnderssonP. (2008).
Happiness and health: Well-being among the self-employed. The Journal of Socio-Economics,
37(1), 213–236.
3.
AppelbaumE.BergP. (2001). High-performance work systems and labor market structures. In BergI.KallebergA. L. (Eds.), Sourcebook of labor markets (pp. 271–293).
Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
4.
ArumR. (2004). Entrepreneurs and laborers: Two sides of self-employment activity in the United States. In ArumR.MüllerW. (Eds.), The reemergence of self-employment: A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality (pp. 170–202).
Princeton University Press.
5.
ArumR.MüllerW. (2004). The reemergence of self-employment: A comparative study of self-employment dynamics and social inequality.
Princeton University Press.
6.
BannaiA.TamakoshiA. (2014).
The association between long working hours and health: A systematic review of epidemiological evidence. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health,
40(1), 5–18.
7.
BenachJ.VivesA.AmableM.VanroelenC.TarafaG.MuntanerC. (2014).
Precarious employment: Understanding an emerging social determinant of health. Annual Review of Public Health,
35(1), 229–253.
8.
BenachJ.VivesA.TarafaG.DelclosC.MuntanerC. (2016).
What should we know about precarious employment and health in 2025? Framing the agenda for the next decade of research. International Journal of Epidemiology,
45(1), 232–238.
9.
BinderM. (2018). The way to wellbeing: A multidimensional strategy for improving wellbeing of the self-employed.
Centre for Research on Self-employment.
10.
BinderM.CoadA. (2016).
How satisfied are the self-employed? A life domain view. Journal of Happiness Studies,
17(4), 1409–1433.
11.
BögenholdD. (2019).
From hybrid entrepreneurs to entrepreneurial billionaires: Observations on the socioeconomic heterogeneity of self-employment. American Behavioral Scientist,
63(2), 129–146.
12.
BoltanskiL.ChiapelloE. (2005). The new spirit of capitalism.
Verso Books.
13.
BoschG. (2004).
Towards a new standard employment relationship in Western Europe. British Journal of Industrial Relations,
42(4), 617–636.
14.
BoschG.WeinkopfC. (2017).
Reducing wage inequality: The role of the state in improving job quality. Work and Occupations,
44(1), 68–88.
15.
BosmansK.HardonkS.De CuyperN.VanroelenC. (2016).
Explaining the relation between precarious employment and mental well-being. A qualitative study among temporary agency workers. Work,
53(2), 249–264.
16.
CappelliP. (1995).
Rethinking employment. British Journal of Industrial Relations,
33(4), 563–602.
17.
CarréF. (2016). Destandardization: Qualitative and quantitative. In EdgellS.GottfriedH.GranterE. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of the sociology of work and employment (pp. 129–147).
Sage Publications.
18.
ConenW. (2019). Precariousness among older self-employed workers in Europe. In Conen W., & Schippers J. (Eds.), Self-employment as precarious work: A European perspective (pp. 170–185).
Edward Elgar Publishing.
19.
ConenW.SchippersJ. (Eds.) (2019). Self-employment as precarious work: A European perspective.
Edward Elgar Publishing.
20.
CooperA. C.ArtzK. W. (1995).
Determinants of satisfaction for entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Venturing,
10(6), 439–457.
21.
CottiniE.GhinettiP. (2017).
Is it the way you live or the job you have? Health effects of lifestyles and working conditions. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy,
17(3), 1–20.
22.
CoxT.GriffithsA.Rial-GonzalezE. (2000). Research on work-related stress.
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. https://doi.org/http://europa.eu.int
23.
CuetoB.PrunedaG. (2017).
Job satisfaction of wage and self-employed workers. Do job preferences make a difference?Applied Research in Quality of Life,
12(1), 103–123.
24.
CumminsR. (2000).
Personal income and subjective well-being: A review.Journal of Happiness Studies,
1(2), 133–158.
25.
DavidssonJ.NaczykM. (2009). The ins and outs of dualisation: A literature review.
RECWOWE Dissemination and Dialogue Centre.
26.
DekkerF.van der VeenR. (2017).
Modern working life: A blurring of the boundaries between secondary and primary labour markets?Economic and Industrial Democracy,
38(2), 256–270.
De WitteH.PienaarJ.De CuyperN. (2016).
Review of 30 years of longitudinal studies on the association between job insecurity and health and Well-Being: Is there causal evidence?Australian Psychologist,
51(1), 18–31.
29.
DipreteT. A. (2005).
Labor markets, inequality, and change: A European perspective. Work and Occupations,
32(2), 119–139.
30.
EichhorstW.MarxP. (2015). Non-standard employment in post-industrial labour markets: An occupational perspective.
Edward Elgar Publishing.
Eurofound. (2017). Exploring self-employment in the European Union.
Publications Office of the European Union.
33.
FayersP. M.SprangersM. A. G. (2002).
Understanding self-rated health. The Lancet,
359(9302), 187–188.
34.
FindlayP.WarhurstC.KeepE.LloydC. (2017).
Opportunity knocks? The possibilities and levers for improving job quality. Work and Occupations,
44(1), 3–22.
35.
GottschallK.KroosD. (2007). Self-employment in comparative perspective: General trends and the case of new media. In WalbyS.GottfriedH.GottschallK.OsawaM. (Eds.), Gendering the knowledge economy: Comparative perspectives (pp. 163–187).
Palgrave Macmillan.
36.
GreenF.MostafaT. (2012). Job quality indices for Europe. A report based on the fifth European Working Conditions Survey.
Eurofound.
37.
GregoireA. (2002).
The mental health of farmers. Occupational Medicine,
52(8), 471–476.
38.
GunnarssonK. (2010). Entrepreneurs and small-scale enterprises. Self reported health, work conditions, work environment management and occupational health services.
Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis Uppsala.
39.
HagenaarsJ. A.McCutcheonA. L. (2002). Applied latent class analysis.
Cambridge University Press.
40.
HowardM. C.HoffmanM. E. (2018).
Variable-centered, person-centered, and person-specific approaches: Where theory meets the method. Organizational Research Methods,
21(4), 846–876.
41.
HuangL. -C.AhlstromD.LeeA. Y.-P.ChenS. -Y.HsiehM. -J. (2016).
High performance work systems, employee well-being, and job involvement: An empirical study. Personnel Review,
45(2), 296–314.
42.
InancH. (2020). Varieties of precarity: How insecure work manifests itself, affects well-being, and is shaped by social welfare institutions and labor market policies. Work and Occupations, 47(4), 504–511. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888420934539.
43.
International Labour Office. (2015). Conclusions of the meeting of experts on non-standard forms of employment (GB.323/POL/3). Geneva.
44.
JuliàM.VanroelenC.BosmansK.Van AerdenK.BenachJ. (2017).
Precarious employment and quality of employment in relation to health and well-being in Europe. International Journal of Health Services: Planning, Administration, Evaluation,
47(3), 389–409.
45.
JuliàM.VivesA.TarafaG.BenachJ. (2017).
Changing the way we understand precarious employment and health: Precarisation affects the entire salaried population. Safety Science,
100, 66–73.
46.
KallebergA. L. (2003).
Flexible firms and labor market segmentation: Effects of workplace restructuring on jobs and workers. Work and Occupations,
30(2), 154–175.
47.
KallebergA. L. (2016). Good jobs, bad jobs. In EdgellS.GottfriedH.GranterE. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of the sociology of work and employment (pp. 129–147).
Sage Publications.
48.
KusierA. O.FolkerA. P. (2020).
The well-being index WHO-5: Hedonistic foundation and practical limitations. Medical Humanities, 46(3), 333–339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2018-011636
49.
LangeT. (2012).
Job satisfaction and self-employment: Autonomy or personality?Small Business Economics,
38(2), 165–177.
50.
LewchukW. (2017).
Precarious jobs: Where are they, and how do they affect well-being?The Economic and Labour Relations Review,
28(3), 402–419.
51.
Lewin-EpsteinN.Yuchtman-YaarE. (1991).
Health risks of self-employment. Work and Occupations,
18(3), 291–312.
52.
LiC. Y.SungF. C. (1999).
A review of the healthy worker effect in occupational edidemiology. Occupational Medicine,
49(4), 225–229.
53.
LuberS.LeichtR. (2000).
Growing self-employment in Western Europe: An effect of modernization?International Review of Sociology,
10(1), 101–123.
54.
LukacM.DoerflingerN.PulignanoV. (2019).
Developing a cross-national comparative framework for studying labour market segmentation: Measurement equivalence with latent class analysis. Social Indicators Research,
145(1), 233–255.
55.
MaiQ. D. (2017).
Precarious work in Europe: Assessing cross-national differences and institutional determinants of work precarity in 32 European countries. Research in the Sociology of Work,
31, 273–306.
56.
MaiQ. D.HillT. D.Vila-HenningerL.GrandnerM. A. (2019).
Employment insecurity and sleep disturbance: Evidence from 31 European countries. Journal of Sleep Research,
28(1), 1–8.
57.
ManorO.MatthewsS.PowerC. (2000).
Dichotomous or categorical response? Analysing self-rated health and lifetime social class. International Journal of Epidemiology,
29(1), 149–157.
58.
MckeownT. (2005).
Non-standard employment: When even the elite are precarious. Journal of Industrial Relations,
47(3), 276–293.
59.
McLachlanG. J.KrishnanT. (1997). The EM algorithm and extensions.
Wiley.
60.
MorinA. J. S.BujaczA.GagnéM. (2018).
Person-centered methodologies in the organizational sciences: Introduction to the feature topic. Organizational Research Methods,
21(4), 803–813.
61.
Muñoz de BustilloR.Fernández-MacíasE.EsteveF.AntónJ. I. (2011).
E pluribus unum? A critical survey of job quality indicators. Socio-Economic Review,
9(3), 447–475.
62.
OeschD.PiccittoG. (2019).
The polarization myth: Occupational upgrading in Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, 1992–2015. Work and Occupations,
46(4), 441–469.
63.
PeckJ. A. (1989).
Labour market segmentation theory. Labour & Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work,
2(1), 119–144.
64.
PeckhamT.FujishiroK.HajatA.FlahertyB. P.SeixasN. (2019).
Evaluating employment quality as a determinant of health in a changing labor market. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences,
5(4), 258.
RománC.CongregadoE.MillánJ. M. (2011).
Dependent self-employment as a way to evade employment protection legislation. Small Business Economics,
37(3), 363–392.
67.
RossC. E.MirowskyJ. (1995).
Does employment affect health?Journal of Health and Social Behavior,
36(3), 230–243.
68.
RydstedtL. W.HeadJ.StansfeldS. A.Woodley-JonesD. (2012).
Quality of workplace social relationships and perceived health. Psychological Reports,
110(3), 781–790.
69.
SchippersJ. (2019). Labour market flexibility, self-employment and precariousness. In ConenW.SchippersJ. (Eds.), Self-employment as precarious work: A European perspective (pp. 23–39).
Edward Elgar Publishing.
70.
SchmidG.WagnerJ. (2017). Managing social risks of non-standard employment in Europe.
International Labour Office.
71.
Scott-MarshallH.TompaE. (2011).
The health consequences of precarious employment experiences. Work (Reading, Mass.),
38(4), 369–382.
72.
SirgyJ. (2012). The psychology of quality of life: Hedonic well-being. Life satisfaction and eudaimonia. (2nd ed.).
Springer.
73.
SpreitzerG. M. (2008). Taking stock: A review of more than twenty years of research on empowerment at work. In BarlingJ.CooperC. L. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organizational behavior: Volume I micro approaches (pp. 54–73).
Sage Publications.
74.
SteinmetzG.WrightE. O. (1989).
The fall and rise of the petty bourgeoisie: Changing patterns of self-employment in the postwar United States. American Journal of Sociology,
94(5), 973–1018.
75.
StephanU. (2018).
Entrepreneurs’ mental health and well-being: A review and research agenda. Academy of Management Perspectives,
32(3), 290–322.
76.
StephanU.RoeslerU. (2010).
Health of entrepreneurs versus employees in a national representative sample. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,
83(3), 717–738.
77.
ToppC. W.ØstergaardS. D.SøndergaardS.BechP. (2015).
The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: A systematic review of the literature. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics,
84(3), 167–176.
78.
UnderhillE.QuinlanM. (2011).
How precarious employment affects health and safety at work: The case of temporary agency workers. Relations Industrielles,
66(3), 397–421.
79.
Van AerdenK.MoorsG.LevecqueK.VanroelenC. (2014).
Measuring employment arrangements in the European Labour Force: A typological approach. Social Indicators Research,
116(3), 771–791.
80.
Van AerdenK.Puig-BarrachinaV.BosmansK.VanroelenC. (2016).
How does employment quality relate to health and job satisfaction in Europe? A typological approach. Social Science & Medicine (1982),
158, 132–140.
81.
VanceaM.UtzetM. (2017).
How unemployment and precarious employment affect the health of young people: A scoping study on social determinants. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health,
45(1), 73–84.
82.
Van HootegemG. (2016). Changing the nature of work: Toward total workplace innovation. In MohrB. J.Van AmelsvoortP. (Eds.), Co-creating humane and innovative organizations. Evolutions in the practice of socio-technical system design (pp. 326–343).
Global STS-D Network Press.
83.
VanroelenC. (2019).
Employment quality: An overlooked determinant of workers’ health and well-being?Annals of Work Exposures and Health,
63(6), 619–623.
84.
VirtanenM.KivimäkiM.JoensuuM.VirtanenP.ElovainioM.VahteraJ. (2005).
Temporary employment and health: A review. International Journal of Epidemiology,
34(3), 610–622.
85.
VirtanenP.JanlertU.HammarströmA. (2011).
Exposure to temporary employment and job insecurity: A longitudinal study of the health effects. Occupational and Environmental Medicine,
68(8), 570–574.
86.
VirtanenP.LiukkonenV.VahteraJ.KivimäkiM.KoskenvuoM. (2003).
Health inequalities in the workforce: The labour market core-periphery structure. International Journal of Epidemiology,
32(6), 1015–1021.
87.
VivesA.AmableM.FerrerM.MoncadaS.LlorensC.MuntanerC.BenavidesF. G.BenachJ. (2010).
The employment precariousness scale (EPRES): Psychometric properties of a new tool for epidemiological studies among waged and salaried workers. Occupational and Environmental Medicine,
67(8), 548–555.
88.
WalkerB. (2011).
How does non-standard employment affect workers? a consideration of the evidence. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations,
36(3), 14–29.
89.
WeilD. (2014). The fissured workplace. Why work became so bad for so many and what can be done to improve it?
Harvard University Press.
90.
WilkinsonF. (1981). The dynamics of labour market segmentation.
Academic Press.
91.
WoodS.van VeldhovenM.CroonM.de MenezesL. M. (2012).
Enriched job design, high involvement management and organizational performance: The mediating roles of job satisfaction and well-being. Human Relations,
65(4), 419–445.
WrightT. A.CropanzanoR.BonettD. G. (2007).
The moderating role of employee positive well being on the relation between job satisfaction and job performance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,
12(2), 93–104.
94.
WynnM. T. (2016).
Chameleons at large: Entrepreneurs, employees and firms—The changing context of employment relationships. Journal of Management and Organization,
22(6), 826–842.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
