Impact of the Working Conditions on Health and Selected Job-related Diseases. An International Comparison

Abstract

Research background: The labor markets in the European countries are largely converging under the common platform of the EU legislation. However, the specific labor conditions across the countries still pertain, thus influencing the state of health differently across the countries. Purpose of the article: The article has for objective to reveal the relations between labor conditions (job satisfactions, opportunity to develop, recognition for work, salary adequacy, freedom of decision-making, job stress and social support), on one hand, and the self-perceived state of health, number of chronic diseases and the occurrence of the selected job-related diseases (peptic ulcer, hypertension, heart attack), on the other. The comparison is carried out in the light of the cross-country comparison. Methods: Sample consists of the employed and economically active employees, aged 50+, originating from 16 EU countries, Switzerland and Israel (N = 16 713 participants, females 53%). The data are provided by the EU Share database (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe). We use ranking of countries by means (self-perceived state of health, number of chronic diseases) and the non-parametric regression analysis. Findings & Value added: All analyzed working conditions generate statistically significant relations with the self-perceived state of health at the all countries level. However, at the level of individual countries the patterns differ considerably (what rises methodological concerns on different country samples). As regards the specific diseases, considered as work-related: peptic ulcer is associated with all the working conditions analyzed, hypertension associates with four working factors and heart-attack with three. Findings bring important implications for the HR managers and relevant policy-makers.