Ann Occup Environ Med.  2020;32(1):e11. 10.35371/aoem.2020.32.e11.

The relationship between precarious employment and subjective well-being in Korean wage workers through the Cantril ladder Scale

• Choi G
• Park SG
• Won Y
• Ju H
• Jang SW
• Kim HD
• Jang HS
• Kim HC
• Leem JH

• KMID: 2506288
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.35371/aoem.2020.32.e11

Abstract

Background
The global labor market is moving towards increasing job instability. Relatively few studies have examined the relationship between precarious employment and subjective well-being using quantitative scales. We evaluated the association between wage workers' employment status and their subjective well-being through the Cantril ladder scale using Korean Welfare Panel Survey data (KOWEPS).
Methods
This study used KOWEPS data. A total of 4,423 wage workers were divided into permanently employed workers, temporarily employed workers and daily employed workers. The relationship between precarious employment and subjective well-being was analyzed by multiple linear regression adjusted for potential confounding factors.
Results
The more unstable the employment status, the lower the subjective well-being, which can be expressed by the Cantril ladder scale. The mean score of both temporarily employed and daily employed workers were statistically significantly lower (B = −0.454, p < 0.001; B = −0.994, p < 0.001, respectively) than permanently employed workers. This appeared to be the same when occupational and sociodemographic factors were adjusted (B = −0.153, p = 0.002 for temporarily employed, B = −0.610, p < 0.001 for daily employed).
Conclusions
The more unstable the employment status, the lower the subjective well-being score according to the Cantril ladder scale.

Keyword

Precarious employment; Subjective well-being; Cantril ladder scale; KOWEPS