title: Precarious employment: understanding an emerging social determinant of health.
abstract: Employment precariousness is a social determinant that affects the health of workers, families, and communities. Its recent popularity has been spearheaded by three main developments: the surge in "flexible employment" and its associated erosion of workers' employment and working conditions since the mid-1970s; the growing interest in social determinants of health, including employment conditions; and the availability of new data and information systems. This article identifies the historical, economic, and political factors that link precarious employment to health and health equity; reviews concepts, models, instruments, and findings on precarious employment and health inequalities; summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of this literature; and highlights substantive and methodological challenges that need to be addressed. We identify two crucial future aims: to provide a compelling research program that expands our understanding of employment precariousness and to develop and evaluate policy programs that effectively put an end to its health-related impacts.
authors.affiliation: Health Inequalities Research Group, Employment Conditions Knowledge Network (GREDS-EMCONET), Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona 08003, Spain; email: joan.benach@upf.edu , alvives@med.puc.cl , marcelo.amable@gmail.com , cvroelen@vub.ac.be , gemma.tarafa@upf.edu , carles.muntaner@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benach
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vives
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amable
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vanroelen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tarafa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muntaner
mesh_terms: D057172:Economic Recession / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004651:Employment / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D014943:Global Health; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011057:Politics; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D064890:Social Determinants of Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*