Social protection and the employment contract: the impact on work absence.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the impact of temporary employment on all-cause sickness absence of one week or more with a focus on how this relationship is moderated by factors related to social protection (job tenure, union membership and firm size).


METHODS
A sample of 5,307 individuals who experienced 9,574 distinct job episodes was drawn from a longitudinal Canadian labour market survey (2000-2004).


METHODS
Duration analysis was undertaken to model the time from the start of a job to the first sickness absence. Specifically, a proportional hazard model was estimated using a complementary log-log function for continuous time processes.


RESULTS
Findings showed that temporary employment was associated with a lower rate of sickness absence after controlling for tenure, prior health status, and several other individual and job characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the lack of social protection in temporary jobs is a powerful determinant of absence taking, even in the case of serious health conditions that require an absence of one week or more.
Institute for Work and Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. etompa@iwh.on.ca
Emile
E
Tompa
Heather
H
Scott-Marshall
Miao
M
Fang
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D032982:Contracts; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support