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Much research on precarious employment compares permanent workers with one or two other broadly-defined employment categories. We developed a more refined method of examining precariousness by defining current employment arrangements in terms of job characteristics. These employment arrangement categories were then compared in terms of socio-demographics and self-reported job insecurity. This investigation was based on a cross-sectional population-based survey of a random sample of 1,101 working Australians. Eight mutually exclusive employment categories were identified: Permanent Full-time (46.4%), Permanent Part-time (18.3%), Casual Full-time (2.7%), Casual Part-time (9.3%), Fixed Term Contract (2.1%), Labour Hire (3.6%), Own Account Self-employed (7.4%), and Other Self-employed (9.5%). These showed significant and coherent differences in job characteristics, socio-demographics and perceived job insecurity. These empirically-supported categories may provide a conceptual guide for government agencies, policy makers and researchers in areas including occupational health and safety, taxation, labour market regulations, the working poor, child poverty, benefit programs, industrial relations, and skills development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between psychosocial and other working conditions and body-mass index (BMI) in a working population. This study contributes to the approximately dozen investigations of job stress, which have demonstrated mixed positive and negative results in relation to obesity, overweight and BMI. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted among working Australians in the state of Victoria. Participants were contacted by telephone from a random sample of phone book listings. Information on body mass index was self-reported as were psychosocial work conditions assessed using the demand/control and effort/reward imbalance models. Other working conditions measured included working hours, shift work, and physical demand. Separate linear regression analyses were undertaken for males and females, with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: A total of 1101 interviews (526 men and 575 women) were completed. Multivariate models (adjusted for socio-demographics) demonstrated no associations between job strain, as measured using the demand/control model, or ERI using the effort/reward imbalance model (after further adjustment for over commitment) and BMI among men and women. Multivariate models demonstrated a negative association between low reward and BMI among women. Among men, multivariate models demonstrated positive associations between high effort, high psychological demand, long working hours and BMI and a negative association between high physical demand and BMI. After controlling for the effort/reward imbalance or the demand/control model, the association between physical demand and working longer hours and BMI remained. Conclusion: Among men and women the were differing patterns of both exposures to psychosocial working conditions and associations with BMI. Among men, working long hours was positively associated with higher BMI and this association was partly independent of job stress. Among men physical demand was negatively associated with BMI and this association was independent of job stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The evidence linking precarious employment with poor health is mixed. Self-reported occupational exposures in a population-based Australian sample were assessed to investigate the potential for differential exposure to psychosocial and other occupational hazards to contribute to such a relationship, hypothesizing that exposures are worse under more precarious employment arrangements (EA)., Methods: Various psychoscial and other working conditions were modeled in relation to eight empirically derived EA categories with Permanent Full-Time (PFT) as the reference category (N = 925), controlling for sex, age, and occupational skill level., Results: More precarious EA were associated with higher odds of adverse exposures. Casual Full-Time workers had the worst exposure profile, showing the lowest job control, as well as the highest odds of multiple job holding, shift work, and exposure to four or more additional occupational hazards. Fixed-Term Contract workers stood out as the most likely to report job insecurity. Self-employed workers showed the highest job control, but also the highest odds of long working hours., Conclusions: Psychosocial and other working conditions were generally worse under more precarious EA, but patterns of adverse occupational exposures differ between groups of precariously employed workers., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that the risk of experiencing unwanted sexual advances at work (UWSA) is greater for precariously-employed workers in comparison to those in permanent or continuing employment., Methods: A cross-sectional population-based telephone survey was conducted in Victoria (66% response rate, N=1,101). Employment arrangements were analysed using eight differentiated categories, as well as a four-category collapsed measure to address small cell sizes. Self-report of unwanted sexual advances at work was modelled using multiple logistic regression in relation to employment arrangement, controlling for gender, age, and occupational skill level., Results: Forty-seven respondents reported UWSA in our sample (4.3%), mainly among women (37 of 47). Risk of UWSA was higher for younger respondents, but did not vary significantly by occupational skill level or education. In comparison to Permanent Full-Time, three employment arrangements were strongly associated with UWSA after adjustment for age, gender, and occupational skill level: Casual Full-Time OR = 7.2 (95% Confidence Interval 1.7-30.2); Fixed-Term Contract OR = 11.4 (95% CI 3.4-38.8); and Own-Account Self-Employed OR = 3.8 (95% CI 1.2-11.7). In analyses of females only, the magnitude of these associations was further increased., Conclusions: Respondents employed in precarious arrangements were more likely to report being exposed to UWSA, even after adjustment for age and gender., Implications: Greater protections from UWSA are likely needed for precariously employed workers.