People moving in and out of temporary or insecure work are at a heightened risk of health problems, with new research revealing an “accumulation” effect of multiple spells of unemployment.
Welfare advocates warn the findings cast doubt of the benefits of the Abbott government’s recently unveiled $5 billion job services model, Jobactive, which heavily promotes temporary work as a “stepping stone” to long-term employment.
The joint Australian-Swedish study tracked experiences of more than 1080 school-leavers and found that accumulated shorter spells of unemployment were damaging in similar ways to the well-established health effects of long-term joblessness.
The findings, presented at the Australian Psychological Society’s college of health psychologists conference on Friday, showed people were more likely to fall into health problems including depression and negative behaviours such as increased alcohol consumption and smoking if they had experienced intermittent unemployment.
At a time of rising unemployment, under-employment and the decline of low-skilled work, job agencies say the study highlights an urgent challenge for federal government policymakers to tackle.
Simon Mamone, senior psychologist with the Sarina Russo employment group, said the quality and security of jobs available in Melbourne had rapidly declined in the past six years.
He said young Australian jobseekers were facing the most pressing problems as the unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds hovered around 14 per cent.
“We are seeing a lot more of that intermittent work than part-time or full-time work,” he said. “This puts young people behind … it’s the rung of the ladder that keeps getting knocked down and down. They start losing confidence in themselves and in employers.”
Daniel Robert, 20, worked at a gym in the city’s south-east for two years after leaving school with a certificate in personal training. But when the gym closed, he faced more than a year of moving between part-time work and tireless job hunting.
Mr Robert worked as a masseuse during the day and in a break-dance crew at night, while spending long hours looking for permanent work in retail, hospitality and personal training across Melbourne.
“It did stress me out … at one point in time, I felt like not having work made me feel as if I wasn’t worth much,” he said.
“I felt like I wasn’t doing anything even though I was constantly looking.”
Mr Robert, who has landed a good job at a fast-food restaurant, said moving in and out of work since leaving school had been difficult and the current jobs market was causing stress for many people in his age group.
Last month, the Abbott government launched the $5 billion Jobactive system, which provides employment services with cash incentives to place jobseekers in short-term positions. The government said “data clearly demonstrates that people who have undertaken a few short-term employment opportunities are substantially more likely to gain permanent positions”.
Brotherhood of St Laurence executive director Tony Nicholson said sporadic and insecure unemployment had risen in Australia since the global financial crisis, and younger workers and those recovering from mental illness could be negatively affected by the focus on short-term work.
“As a general rule, having a job is better for a person’s mental health than not having a job, even if it’s short-term,” Mr Nicholson said.
“But for people with mental illness, the lack of certainty week to week, month to month, can exacerbate anxiety because of the pressure they encounter … and with young people who are trying to get a foothold in the world of work, it creates a loss of hope that they will be able to have stability of employment and income.”
Mr Nicholson said critical support programs from the Howard era helping school-leavers make the transition to employment did not receive funding last year.