The gendered associations between precarious employment and mental health in working-age Australians: A longitudinal analysis using 16 waves of the HILDA survey

Abstract

Unemployment and precarious employment (PE) are routinely found to be associated with poorer mental health. Importantly, women are over-represented in PE (due to disproportionate unpaid care demands), yet a gender lens has been lacking in much of the extant literature. This study addresses several gaps by reconsidering how PE can be conceptualised from a gender perspective and examining the impact of differing levels of multidimensional PE on the mental health of working-age Australians. Utilising sixteen annual waves (2005–2020) of the HILDA survey, this longitudinal study employed mixed-effects analysis and Mundlak modelling to examine the association between PE and mental health in workin..