title: Welfare states, flexible employment, and health: a critical review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this literature review is to identify whether differences between welfare regimes can manifest diverse consequences for the health effects of insecure and precarious employment, as well as to address challenging issues and implications for future research.
  
  
  METHODS
  By searching PubMed, PsychINFO, Stork Social Science Citation Index, and Index Lilac, from 1988 to June 2010, a total of 104 original articles were selected (65 on job insecurity; 39 on precarious employment).
  
  
  RESULTS
  After classifying selected empirical studies according to a six-regime welfare state typology (Scandinavian, Bismarckian, Southern European, Anglo-Saxon, Eastern European, and East Asian), this systematic review reveals that welfare regimes may be an important determinant of employment-related health. Precarious workers in Scandinavian welfare states report better or equal health status when compared to their permanent counterparts. By contrast, precarious work in the remaining welfare state regimes is found to be associated with adverse health outcomes, including poor self-rated health, musculoskeletal disorders, injuries, and mental health problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future research should be conducted by employing conceptual models that specify how macro-economic processes, country-level welfare factors, and individual employment histories and environments relate to employment-related health inequalities.
authors.affiliation: Bloomberg School of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Il-Ho Kim@camh.net
authors.forename: Il-Ho
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muntaner
authors.forename: Faraz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vahid Shahidi
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vives
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vanroelen
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benach
mesh_terms: D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data