Young temporary workers more exposed to health problems
Published: 8 March 2012
The report, /Health and social risks: Young workers’ working conditions in Italy/, published in May 2011 by the Institute for Economic and Social Research (Ires [1]) the research institute related to the main Italian trade union, the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Cgil [2]), summarises the outcomes of a survey carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Labour.[1] http://www.ires.it/[2] http://www.cgil.it/
A survey of workers aged 15–34 years carried out by the Institute for Economic and Social Research (Ires) highlights the impact on their health of low job security. Those on a temporary contract were more likely to suffer from work-related health problems, the commonest of which were headache, backache and stress. Over a third of respondents did not report any problems, but almost half reported at least one physical problem, and just over a third at least one psychological problem.
About the survey
The report, Health and social risks: Young workers’ working conditions in Italy, published in May 2011 by the Institute for Economic and Social Research (Ires) the research institute related to the main Italian trade union, the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Cgil), summarises the outcomes of a survey carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Labour.
The report is based on a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) survey carried out in spring 2009 based on a representative sample of 905 workers aged 15–34 years grouped by age, gender, type of labour contract and sector. The questionnaire is based on the one used for the Fourth European Working Conditions Survey (Fourth EWCS).
Key findings
Women accounted for 46.1% of respondents. The largest group of respondents were aged 30–34 years (40.4%), followed by those aged 25–29 years (31.1%), 20–24 years (24.8%) and 15–19 years (3.7%). Most respondents worked in service sectors (70.1%). Half of the respondents (50.2%) worked as employees on a permanent contract and 39.3% on a non-permanent contract, while 10.4% were self-employed (often in a ‘bogus’ form).
The commonest work-related health problems reported by respondents were headache (30.4%), backache (28.9%) and stress (26%) (Table 1); all three have been shown in scientific studies to have a psychosocial component. Over a third of respondents (37.7%) did not report any health problems.
| Health problem | % |
|---|---|
| Headache | 30.4 |
| Backache | 28.9 |
| Stress | 26.0 |
| Muscular pains | 17.7 |
| Overall fatigue | 13.0 |
| Problems with vision | 9.5 |
| Irritability | 9.1 |
| Hearing problems | 4.8 |
| Anxiety or depression | 4.4 |
| Skin problems/allergies | 4.0 |
| Insomnia | 4.0 |
| Stomach ache | 2.3 |
| Physical injuries | 2.1 |
| Other | 0.4 |
| None of them | 37.7 |
Source: Di Nunzio (2011)
When the health problems listed in Table 1 are grouped into psychological and physical health problems (Table 2):
49% of respondents reported at least one physical health problem and 13.9% reported three or more;
34.6% reported at least one psychological health problem and 5.2% reported three or more.
More than one young worker in five (21.2%) reported suffering from both physical and psychological work-related health problems, highlighting the ambiguous and twofold impact of unhealthy work factors. No further investigation into their grouping or the cause was provided in the report.
| Psychological health problems | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | One | Two | Three or more | Total | ||
| Physical health problems | None | 37.7 | 8.3 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 51.0 |
| One | 13.1 | 5.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 19.9 | |
| Two | 8.1 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 15.2 | |
| Three or more | 6.6 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 13.9 | |
| Total | 65.5 | 21.7 | 7.7 | 5.2 | 100.0 | |
Source: Di Nunzio (2011)
When the results are separated by occupation, the usual sharp distinction between physical health problems reported by blue-collar workers and psychological ones reported by white-collar workers seems blurred, especially for the latter (Table 3). Semi-skilled workers such as plant and machine operators and assemblers reported both the most physical and the most psychological health problems (73.1% and 43.3% respectively). However, the upper professional class and managers reported the fewest physical and psychological problems, thus displaying an apparent positive link with their ability to adopt their own way of working and thus lessen the risk of incurring health problems.
| Occupation | Physical health problems | Psychological health problems | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | One | Two | Three or more | None | One | Two | Three or more | |
| Upper professional, senior officials and managers | 68.4 | 10.5 | 15.8 | 5.3 | 78.9 | 15.8 | 5.3 | 0.0 |
| Professionals | 65.6 | 16.4 | 9.8 | 8.2 | 59.0 | 27.9 | 8.2 | 4.9 |
| Technicians and associate professionals | 67.6 | 15.3 | 6.0 | 11.1 | 69.9 | 16.2 | 8.3 | 5.6 |
| Clerks | 56.0 | 22.6 | 12.4 | 9.0 | 62.0 | 24.4 | 9.0 | 4.7 |
| Service workers and shop and market sales workers | 38.6 | 22.7 | 21.8 | 16.8 | 67.3 | 22.7 | 5.9 | 4.1 |
| Agriculture, craft and related trades workers | 38.7 | 23.7 | 10.8 | 26.9 | 66.7 | 19.4 | 9.7 | 4.3 |
| Plant and machine operators and assemblers | 26.9 | 16.4 | 35.8 | 20.9 | 56.7 | 28.4 | 3.0 | 11.9 |
| Elementary occupations | 42.6 | 20.4 | 24.1 | 13.0 | 66.7 | 18.5 | 9.3 | 5.6 |
| Total | 51.0 | 19.9 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 65.5 | 21.7 | 7.7 | 5.2 |
Source: Di Nunzio (2011)
Two factors control the level of work-related health problems. The first is the degree of uncertainty in employment status (for example, almost one young worker in two has a non-permanent employment contract). The second is company size. According to Contini (2002), the smaller the company, the higher the turnover rate; turnover in companies with fewer than 15 employees is 40% while in the whole economy is 25%.
On average, those employed in small and micro enterprises report at least one physical health problem (Table 4), with a peak value for self-employed in micro enterprises with fewer than 15 employees (1.23). Psychological health problems are reported more by permanent employees in companies with more than 50 employees and by non-permanent workers in companies with 15–49 employees. It seems therefore that small enterprises offer a greater well-being at work for permanent staff than larger ones due to the slower pace of work while the opposite holds for non-permanent staff.
| Employment status | Company size | Physical health problems | Psychological health problems |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent employee | <15 | 1.07 | 0.46 |
| 15–49 | 0.99 | 0.66 | |
| ≥50 | 1.14 | 0.81 | |
| Total | 1.07 | 0.61 | |
| Non-permanent employee | <15 | 0.98 | 0.38 |
| 15–49 | 1.11 | 0.83 | |
| ≥50 | 0.70 | 0.45 | |
| Total | 0.95 | 0.50 | |
| Self-employed | <15 | 1.23 | 0.42 |
| 15–49 | 0.95 | 0.76 | |
| ≥50 | 0.75 | 0.38 | |
| Total | 1.08 | 0.49 | |
| Total | <15 | 1.05 | 0.42 |
| 15–49 | 1.04 | 0.74 | |
| ≥50 | 0.97 | 0.66 | |
| Total | 1.02 | 0.56 |
Source: Di Nunzio (2011)
Commentary
The Ires report introduces several new ideas to the Italian debate on quality of work. First, it examines the concept of well-being at work in the context of an interdisciplinary approach between sociologists, psychologists and occupational health doctors. The relationship between autonomy in the workplace and health problems is only indirectly investigated, although it is at the heart of the authors’ approach to well-being at work.
Secondly, the report investigates the working conditions of young workers in a comprehensive approach that includes all types of labour contract, although this group has a disproportionately high share of the labour market’s non-permanent contracts. Their uncertain occupational status not only affects job security, as has been shown by numerous studies over the last decade, but also overall productivity and pay levels, as stressed in a study by Lotti and Viviano (2011) for Banca d’Italia, as well as their health at work.
The impact of these two factors can be seen in the reported physical and psychological health problems, with the psychological problems emerging after a longer period of time. Unfortunately, differences in the way in which questions were framed in the survey do not allow comparison with the various waves of Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and there is no comparable evidence in Italian studies.
References
Contini, B. (ed.) (2002), Osservatorio sulla mobilità del lavoro in Italia [Observatory on labour mobility in Italy], Il Mulino, Bologna.
Di Nunzio, D. (ed.) (2011), Rischi sociali per per la sauté: le condizioni di lavoro dei giovani in Italia [Health and social risks: Young workers’ working conditions in Italy], Ediesse, Rome.
Lotti, F. and Viviano, E. (2011), Why hire temporary workers? (239Kb PDF), Banca d’Italia, Rome.
Mario Giaccone, Ires
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2012), Young temporary workers more exposed to health problems, article.
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