Work precarity and vulnerability

“Precarious” is a word often used to describe work that is characterized by low pay, low job security and little protection. “Vulnerable” is a word often used in the health and safety world to describe those who are at an increased risk of work injury or disease. At the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), an evidence-based framework has been developed that defines OHS vulnerability as being exposed to hazards without having adequate protection. This page pulls together research on OHS vulnerability and work precarity.

Featured

IWH Speaker Series

Good jobs, bad jobs, and ‘deaths of despair’

Published: April 22, 2025
A man sits on a dimly lit staircase.
At Work article

Precarious jobs linked to suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-related deaths: IWH study

An IWH study investigated whether job quality—measured in terms of employment stability, hours and wages—is linked to suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-attributable mortality.
Published: April 15, 2025
Journal article
Project
Project

Job quality before and after work injury

This project will examine the job quality of injured workers in Canada. Its overarching goal is to provide a comprehensive and dynamic portrait of working life before and after work injury.
Status: Ongoing
Canadian Occupational Safety logo
IWH in the media

Canadian study links job quality to 'deaths of despair’

Compared to those in standard employment, workers in precarious jobs are more than three times as likely to die from drug poisoning and nearly twice as likely to die from alcohol-related causes. The risk of suicide is also markedly higher—2.4 times greater for women and 1.7 times greater for men in precarious work, reports Shane Mercer, based on a webinar presentation by IWH associate scientist Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi. The findings challenge the notion that having any job is enough to safeguard health, instead pointing to job quality as a critical, and often overlooked, determinant of life expectancy.
Published: Canadian Occupational Safety, April 2025
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series

Good jobs, bad jobs, and ‘deaths of despair’

Life expectancy is stalling in Canada and other high-income countries. These trends are partly due to rising “deaths of despair,” a term that some researchers use to describe suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-related mortality. In this presentation, Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi examines the link between job quality—whether one has a “good” or “bad” job—and deaths of despair in the Canadian workforce. He asks whether people in precarious employment, which is insecure and unrewarding, are more likely to suffer an early death due to suicide, drug poisoning, or alcohol-related causes. He also discusses the role job quality can play in improving population health and stemming the rise of deaths of despair.
Published: April 2025
A man sits on a dimly lit staircase.
At Work article

Precarious jobs linked to suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-related deaths: IWH study

In Canada and other high-income countries, rates of suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-attributable mortality—sometimes referred to as “deaths of despair”—have increased over time. An IWH study investigated whether job quality—measured in terms of employment stability, hours and wages—is linked to these causes of deaths.
Published: April 2025
Journal article
Journal article

Precarious, non-standard and informal employment: a glossary

Published: Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, April 2025
Journal article
Journal article

Employment quality and suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-attributable mortality

Published: American Journal of Epidemiology, February 2025
Journal article
CBC logo
IWH in the media

Cobbling together multiple jobs to make a living...What's the real cost on you?

Filling your spare time with side hustles can put more money in your pocket, but what will it cost you? In an episode of Ontario Today, host Amanda Pfeffer and guest Deena Ladd take calls from listeners. They also mention an IWH study on the link between injury risks and precarious work, conducted by Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi (at 24m 24s).
Published: CBC Radio One, September 2024