[Job insecurity as risk for adverse health effects amongst german workers: a cohort study].

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the relation of perceived job insecurity and self-rated health amongst German workers.
METHODOLOGY: The database of the investigation was created from survey data of the Socio-economic Panel (SOEP). The analysis considered data from the surveys in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Included were all employed persons aged 30-60 years in 2003 (n=9 272). In order to analyse the impact of perceived job insecurity measured in 2003 on the self-rated health in 2004 (n=8 709) and 2006 (n=7 773) an ordinal logit-model was used.
RESULTS: Persons with high job insecurity had--after adjustment for age, gender, education and occupational status--a higher risk of adverse self-rated health both after one year (OR=1.18; 95% CI: 1.06-1.31) and three years (OR=1.18; 95% CI: 1.05-1.32). The analysis could also identify an interaction between occupational status and job insecurity. High job insecurity proved to be a health risk, particularly for persons with lower occupational status (2004: OR=1.37; 95% CI: 1.15-1.62; 2006: OR=1.31; 95% CI: 1.09-1.57).
CONCLUSION: The study supports the proposal that, for a cohort of German workers, perceived job insecurity increases the risk of adverse health effects amongst workers with lower occupational status.