Churchill Brendan, Ervin Jennifer, Ruppanner Leah, Taouk Yamna, King Tania L
School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Bouverie Street, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Health Promot Int. 2025 Mar 5;40(2). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaf030.
Underemployment is an increasingly persistent and pervasive feature of contemporary labour markets and there is some evidence to suggest that underemployment is an important social determinant of health and well-being. However, the evidence base has tended to focus on hours-based underemployment more than others like skills-based underemployment. Moreover, the gendered dimensions of underemployment remain under-researched despite evidence to suggest that women are more likely to be underemployed. Drawing on 21 annual waves (2002-22) of data from the Household, Income, Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, this longitudinal study employed Mundlak modelling to examine the association between two forms of subjective underemployment and mental health in working-age (25-64 years) Australians (n = 18,285). Underemployment was operationalized in two ways: (1) hours-related underemployment; and (2) skills-based underemployment. Mental health was assessed using the MHI-5 scale. All models were stratified by gender. Results suggest that hours-related underemployment has a more negative effect on women's mental health while skills-related underemployment has a more negative effect on men's. Theoretically, this article highlights how subjective forms of underemployment are like unemployment, acting as a stressor for mental health because they partially deprive workers of the benefits of full employment. This study provides robust longitudinal evidence of the detrimental impact of underemployment on the mental health of working-aged Australians, highlighting how inadequate forms of work have negative health consequences. Thus, greater effort from both governments and employers is needed to implement policies and programs that help workers reach their capacity to mitigate against the negative health effects of underemployment.
就业不足是当代劳动力市场中一个日益持久且普遍存在的特征，有证据表明就业不足是健康和幸福的一个重要社会决定因素。然而，证据基础往往更关注基于工时的就业不足，而不是像基于技能的就业不足等其他类型。此外，尽管有证据表明女性更有可能就业不足，但就业不足的性别层面仍未得到充分研究。本纵向研究利用澳大利亚家庭、收入与劳动力动态调查的21个年度数据波次（2002年至2022年），采用蒙德拉模型来检验澳大利亚工作年龄（25至64岁）人群（n = 18285）中两种主观就业不足形式与心理健康之间的关联。就业不足通过两种方式进行操作化定义：（1）与工时相关的就业不足；以及（2）基于技能的就业不足。心理健康使用MHI - 5量表进行评估。所有模型均按性别分层。结果表明，与工时相关的就业不足对女性心理健康的负面影响更大，而与技能相关的就业不足对男性心理健康的负面影响更大。从理论上讲，本文强调了主观形式的就业不足如何类似于失业，成为心理健康的压力源，因为它们部分剥夺了工人充分就业的益处。这项研究提供了有力的纵向证据，证明就业不足对澳大利亚工作年龄人群心理健康的有害影响，突出了工作形式不充分如何产生负面健康后果。因此，政府和雇主都需要做出更大努力，实施有助于工人充分发挥自身能力以减轻就业不足对健康负面影响的政策和项目。
