Workfirst policies and mental health: employment is not a magic bullet
Peter Butterworth and Liana Leach
Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian Narional University
Contact Email:   Peter.Butterworthanu.edu.au

Background: People who are unemployed generally have poorer physical and mental health than those who are employed. However, research (largely cross sectional) has shown that the health of those in poor quality jobs is similar or worse than those who are unemployed. This study uses longitudinal data to examine whether transitions in employment status and job quality are associated with changes in physical and mental health, and whether moving from unemployment to work is universally associated with improvement in mental and physical health regardless of job quality.

Method: Random- and fixed-effects models were used to analyse 6 waves of data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. We follow 7843 respondents aged between 20 and 60 through labour-force transitions and changes in the psychosocial aspects of job quality including security, marketability and job strain (demands and control).

Results: Compared to those in optimal jobs, those in the poorest quality jobs (insecurity, low marketability and high job strain) and those who were unemployed reported significantly poorer mental health, and did not differ. While those moving from unemployment to good quality jobs showed an improvement in mental health, moving from unemployment to the poorest quality jobs was associated with a significant decline in mental health.

Conclusions: These findings raise questions about the personal benefits of workfirst policies and show that policy makers need to be aware that the benefits from employment may be dependent on the quality of work.

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