Precarious work and heath: Do occupation- and state-specific unemployment rates matter for women and for men?

Precarious work has the potential to undermine workers’ health and well-being, and linkages between precarious work and health may depend on contextual measures of unemployment. The present study uses data from the Current Population Survey (CPS; 2001–2019) to examine whether several characteristics of precarious work are associated with self-rated health, with attention to differences in these associations by occupation- and state-specific unemployment rates. Findings indicate that experiences of unemployment, part-time work, and poor work quality (limited social benefits and low wages) are associated with worse self-rated health for working women and men. Moreover, associations between some measures of precarious work and health are weaker at higher levels of occupation- and state-specific unemployment for men, but not for women. The present study points to precarious work as a chronic stressor for many workers that must be considered within broader economic contexts.