Bad jobs worse for health than unemployment: Study

London: People working in low-paying or highly stressful jobs are more likely to face health problems than those who remain unemployed, scientists, including one of Indian origin, have found.

Researchers at The University of Manchester in the UK monitored over 1,000 participants aged between 35 and 75 years who were unemployed during 2009-2010.

They followed up with the participants during the next few years about their self-reported health and their levels of chronic stress as indicated by their hormones and other biomarkers related to stress.

The team, including Tarani Chandola, professor at The University of Manchester, found that there was a clear pattern of the highest levels of chronic stress for adults who moved into poor quality work, higher than those who remained unemployed.

Adults who found a good quality job had the lowest levels of biomarkers, researchers said.

They noted that good quality work was associated with an improvement in mental health scores compared to remaining unemployed, but there were no differences in mental health scores between those who transitioned into poor quality work and those who remained unemployed.

"Job quality cannot be disregarded from the employment success of the unemployed. Just as good work is good for health, we must also remember that poor quality work can be detrimental to health," said Chandola.

The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.