Job insecurity, economic hardship, and sleep problems in a national sample of salaried workers in Spain

Abstract

Objective: To check for associations between various types of job insecurity and self-reported sleeping problems.

Design: A population-based, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Spain, 2016.

Participants: Salaried workers included in the third Psychosocial Risks Survey (n = 1807).

Measurements: We investigated the association between 6 subjective and 2 attributed indicators of job insecurity (exposure) with 5 sleep problem variables (difficulty falling sleep, difficulty sleeping through the night, waking up too early, sleeping restlessly, and a composite variable summing all the sleeping problems) using Poisson regression, and controlling for socioeconomic, occupational, and demographic factors.

Results: Anticipating a salary decrease or working at a company where staff restructuring had occurred in the preceding year were associated with sleeping problems. Having a temporary or informal employment contract and most domains of perceived job insecurity were not a significant factor in adjusted models.

Conclusions: Recent or anticipated economic hardship within a worker's household was the main predictor of sleeping problems. More research is needed to elucidate the exact mechanisms through which the experience of aspects of downsizing might manifest in disruptions to employees' sleep. Sleep health should be an active part of all employee wellness programs.

Keywords: Downsizing; Economic hardship; Job insecurity; Sleeping problems; Workers.