Temporary employment and health: a review.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to review evidence on the relationship between temporary employment and health, and to see whether the association is dependent on outcome measure, instability of employment, and contextual factors.


METHODS
We systematically searched for studies of temporary employment and various health outcomes and critically appraised 27 studies.


RESULTS
The review suggests higher psychological morbidity among temporary workers compared with permanent employees. According to some studies, temporary workers also have a higher risk of occupational injuries but their sickness absence is lower. Morbidity may be higher in temporary jobs with high employment instability and in countries with a lower number of temporary workers and unemployed workers.


CONCLUSIONS
The evidence indicates an association between temporary employment and psychological morbidity. The health risk may depend on instability of temporary employment and the context. Confounding by occupation may have biased some of the studies. Additional research to clarify the role of employment instability, hazard accumulation, and selection is recommended.
Virtanen
Marianna
M
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland. marianna.virtanen@occuphealth.fi
Kivimäki
Mika
M
Joensuu
Matti
M
Virtanen
Pekka
P
Elovainio
Marko
M
Vahtera
Jussi
J
D000041:Absenteeism; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D009017:Morbidity; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D012107:Research Design; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology; D014478:Unemployment