In-Work Poverty and Self-Rated Health in a Cohort of Working Germans: A Hybrid Approach for Decomposing Within-Person and Between-Persons Estimates of In-Work Poverty Status

The Covid-19 pandemic as an accelerator of economic worries and labor-related mental health polarization in Germany? A longitudinal interacted mediation analysis with a difference-in-difference comparison

Objectives

Labor-related mental health polarization refers to exposure to low-paid employment and unemployment decreasing mental health. Previous research identified economic worries as a key mediator. Against this background, the Covid-19 pandemic is often assumed to have accelerated already existing processes and affected vulnerable populations the most. Our study sought to investigate whether the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the mediation by economic worries between employment type and mental health.

Method

Using the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP) from 2016 onwards, we created a pre-Covid-19 sample (N = 8266) and a per-Covid-19 sample (N = 7294), with each having a t0 wave (2016/2018) and a t1 wave (2018/2020). We applied the mediational g-formula for longitudinal mediation with exposure-mediator (XM) interaction between employment type (X) and economic worries (M). We decomposed the total effect into a direct, indirect, and interacted effect of employment on mental health and provided a difference-in-difference comparison of the effects.

Results

During the Covid-19 pandemic, economic worries increased, and mental health decreased. However, the mediation by economic worries reduced by approx. 18.0% (e.g., from 35.0% to 28.9%). A decreased indirect effect caused the reduction in mediation, while the direct and interacted effect remained rather stable. We also found stark gender differences towards males having a higher total effect but a lower mediated effect during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Conclusion

Our results highlight that mediators competing to economic worries must have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Such mediators could be the risk of infection at the workplace, the possibility of remote work, and gender-specific mediators. Our study is also the first to extend the mediational g-formula with the difference-in-difference approach. It can be used as a blueprint for researchers interested in evaluating the impact of events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, on preexisting processes.

Dualized Labor Market and Polarized Health: A Longitudinal Perspective on the Association between Precarious Employment and Mental and Physical Health in Germany

This study analyzes the longitudinal association between precarious employment and physical and mental health in a dualized labor market by disaggregating between-employee and within-employee effects and considering mobility in precariousness of employment. Analyses were based on the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2002 to 2018 considering all employees ages 18 to 67 years (n = 38,551). Precariousness of employment was measured as an additive index considering working poverty, nonstandard working time arrangements, perceived job insecurity, and low social rights. Health outcomes were mental and physical health. Random effects models were used and controlled for sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables. Results indicated that the association between precariousness of employment and mental and physical health is mainly based on between-employee differences and that prolonged precariousness of employment or upward or downward mobility are associated with poor health. We found evidence of polarization in health by precariousness of employment within a dualized labor market.

How Working Conditions, Socioeconomic Insecurity, and Behavior-Related Factors Mediate the Association Between Working Poverty and Health in Germany

Objectives: Aims of this study were to Schmitt (Advances in Life Course Research, 2021, 47: 100402) analyze the association of working poverty with mental and physical health-related quality of life and (Wang and Ford, J Organ Behav, 2020, 41 (9): 895-914) to explain these associations by behavior-related factors (heavy drinking, smoking status, body mass index), socioeconomic insecurity (deprivation in living standards, economic worries), and mental working conditions (effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity). Methods: A total of 11,500 employees aged 17-67 from the German Socioeconomic Panel (2014, 2015, and 2016) were used, and mediation analyses with inverse odds weighting stratified by gender were conducted. Results: Working poverty was significantly associated with both outcomes for both genders. Deprivation in living standards contributed the most to differences in mental health, with a mediated proportion of 60.3% (men) and 44.4% (women). Differences in physical health were significantly mediated by inadequate living standards in women, with a mediated proportion of 73.7%, whereas none of the mediators considered were significant in men. Conclusion: Indicators of socioeconomic insecurity contributed most to the association of working poverty with mental and physical health. Results highlight the relevance of policy initiatives to strengthen the socioeconomic living conditions of the working poor.

Self-Criticism in In-Work Poverty: The Mediating Role of Social Support in the Era of Flexibility

In-work poverty reflects situations of income below the poverty threshold among employed people, involving a deterioration of wellbeing. The International Labour Organization prioritises this situation, which in countries such as Spain, Germany or Italy reaches rates of 11.8%, 10.6% and 11.8%, respectively. Within a context of flexibility, the occupational situation tends to be understood as an individual responsibility, which is why this study analyses the increase in self-criticism in these situations, and the role of social support in this relationship. The mediation of social support in the manifestation of self-criticism among people experiencing in-work poverty is analysed. The participants were 1430 employed people, grouped into those in a situation of poverty and those who are not. The results show that people in a situation of in-work poverty present a higher score in self-criticism and lower in social support. Social support is a mediating variable that prevents the manifestation of self-criticism. Lastly, a gender analysis shows that women experience this relationship more intensely. These findings enable a critical assessment of the activation policies that only take an individual approach. As an alternative, we propose strengthening interventions that foster social support, particularly among women.