Employment protection policies in the COVID-19 context: Did they protect workers’ mental health? An intersectional perspective of the Spanish case

Abstract

Aim: To assess differences in the prevalence of poor mental health of the Spanish salaried population according to the labour situation (employed, unemployed, under a suspension-furlough or under a reduction-furlough), from an intersectional perspective (sex and occupational class), 1 year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional study by means of a self-administered online questionnaire, on the Spanish salaried population. Final sample: 22,210 participants. Data collection: April–May 2021. Outcome variable: poor mental health (Mental Health Inventory Short-Form-36 scale). Explanatory variable: current employment status. Stratification variables: sex and occupational class. Confounding variables: age, occupational group, type of contract, living with children under 12-years old and living with chronic or disabled people. A descriptive analysis was carried out and prevalence and prevalence ratios (PR with 95% confidence interval (95%CI)) were estimated by means of robust Poisson regression models. Results: Around 55% of the sample presented poor mental health outcomes. Employed people have less frequent mental health problems than those unemployed (PR: 0.83; 95%CI: 0.79–0.87). In terms of the association between furlough and mental health, different patterns are glimpsed between men and women and, among these, between manual and non-manual workers. Manual men in a suspension-furlough had less frequent mental health problems than those unemployed (PR: 0.75; 95%CI: 0.62–0.91). Conclusions: This study suggests new insights into the patterns of association observed between furlough and workers’ mental health, helping to understand the phenomenon and better design future employment protection policies, which should include a gender and class perspective to avoid the introduction of mental health inequalities.