Job insecurity measure as a form of low social control

Low control over work can be indicated by either decision latitude or job insecurity. Job insecurity may constitute a psychosocial hazard in itself.

The study reviews psychosocial factors and job insecurity. Whether decision latitude and job insecurity measures can be used as a form of social control using occupational linkage system was examined. Different types of job insecurity at different level were investigated: social structure level using unemployment experience, at local economy level using local unemployment rate, at job characteristic level using JCQ and occupational linkage system, and at company level using health insurance, union and insecure contract. From the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort, 3,280 individuals involving 5,204 work- related injuries or illnesses during 1988 through 2000 were followed up. To examine the nature of the relationship between job insecurity measures, generalized estimation equation and factor analyses were done using SAS. Workers with insecure contract were five times as likely to live in local area with high unemployment rate (OR med vs. low = 3.77, 95% C.I. = 2.69_5.30, OR high vs. low = 5.41, 95% C.I =3.75_7.82). The concept of job insecurity is built upon consideration of data availability: Job insecurity = unemployment experience at social structure level + employment contracts at company level. Low control over work is an important variable that is differentially distributed over the socioeconomic spectrum and is closely related to employment conditions.