Death rates are higher for workers in precarious and lower quality jobs

Research has found that workers in non-standard (temporary or part-time) jobs have poorer health and a higher risk of death than those in standard (permanent, full-time) jobs. While non-standard employment is often described as precarious or low quality, the quality of these jobs may in fact differ across many factors, like hours, stability and earnings. Most research so far has not taken these differences in quality into account. For this reason, it is unclear how non-standard jobs of varying quality are related to workers’ health—particularly their risk of death.

The researchers used data from 2.8 million Canadian working adults who completed the 2006 census. The census asked about aspects of job quality including hours worked, employment stability (the number of weeks worked in the last year), and pay. Based on these responses, the researchers categorized a person’s job quality as one of five types. 

The job quality types are: 

• standard: stable jobs with full-time hours and high earnings,
• portfolio: stable jobs with long hours and the highest earnings,
• marginal: mostly stable jobs with limited hours and low earnings,
• intermittent: unstable jobs with full-time hours and moderate earnings, and
• precarious: unstable jobs with mostly part-time hours and the lowest earnings. 

They then linked this data to death records from 2006 to 2019. They looked at whether job quality was related to deaths from any cause during this time. They also investigated links to deaths from specific causes including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and unintentional injuries. 

Rates of death from all causes

Over the 13-year follow up period, death rates increased as job quality decreased. Workers in the highest quality groups (standard and portfolio) had the lowest death rates. 

The lowest quality group (precarious) had the highest death rates. Compared to the standard group, the risk of death was 50 per cent higher among women, and 60 per cent higher among men.

The groups in between (marginal and intermittent) had death rates that also fell in between the highest and lowest rates. Compared to the standard quality group, workers in these groups had a 25 per cent higher risk of death among women, and a 40 per cent higher risk among men.

Rates of death from cancer, cardiovascular diseases, unintentional injury

The researchers also looked at links between job quality and deaths from specific causes—namely, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and unintentional injuries. They found that patterns here were similar to those for deaths from all causes. One difference, however, was that portfolio employment—describing stable jobs with long hours and the highest earnings—was linked to a higher rate of death from cardiovascular diseases among women, and from unintentional injury among women and men, but was not linked to deaths from cancer. They also found that the association between job quality and unintentional injuries was particularly strong. For example, women and men in precarious jobs were about twice as likely to die from an unintentional injury relative to those in the standard group. 

Differences between men and women, younger and older workers

In general, men had higher rates of death than women. In terms of age, in some cases, job quality was more predictive of deaths for younger workers than older workers. For example, the risk of death for workers in precarious jobs was 60 and 83 per cent higher for younger women and men, but only 47 and 52 per cent higher for older women and men.

These findings suggest that policy changes aimed at improving job quality or protecting workers in low-quality jobs may have the potential to improve Canadians’ health and longevity. The findings also show the need for a view of job quality that is more nuanced than the either-or view of high versus low (or standard versus precarious). Many aspects of quality can impact the health of workers. Some jobs fall in between those two categories and can affect workers differently.

This study used a large sample that accurately represents the Canadian population. The researchers were also able to follow up with those who filled out the census over 13 years to track death rates. This allows the researchers to have strong enough data to link job quality to death rates, and to find differences between men and women across specific causes of death. 

A limitation of the study is that job quality was only measured once, in 2006. The researchers could not account for any changes in employment over the follow-up period. However, research shows that people tend to stay in jobs of similar quality over their lives. Also, the study was only able to look at three dimensions of job quality because of the questions asked in the census. There are other aspects of a job that may affect its quality, like union membership or pension plans, that were not accounted for. Finally, while job quality has been shown to predict health outcomes such as death, people who experience health problems may end up in precarious and lower quality jobs. That reverse relationship may in part explain the study results.