Factors related to psychological well-being in unskilled manual workers

• Authors: Jungsun Park , Yangho Kim

Abstracts

EN

ObjectivesThe authors characterized the demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial work factors associated with performance of unskilled manual work, and then identified the modifiable psychosocial work factors that affected the psychological well-being of these workers.Material and MethodsThis study analyzed data from the fifth Korean Working Condition Survey conducted in 2017. The study subjects were 37 081 Korean employees. The occupational classes investigated were: managers, professionals, and clerks; service and sales workers; and skilled or unskilled manual workers.ResultsUnskilled manual workers were more likely to be elderly and less educated, to have low income, to work fewer hours weekly, to have a shorter work duration, to perform temporary or daily jobs, and to report poor subjective health and well-being. Unskilled manual workers were also more likely to experience psychosocial hazards, such adverse social behaviors, a lack of job satisfaction, a lack of support from managers, and a poor social climate. However, with statistical adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial work factors, unskilled manual work was no longer associated with poor psychological well-being, but psychosocial work factors were associated with poor psychological well-being.ConclusionsThe poor psychological well-being of unskilled manual workers cannot be explained by the intrinsic nature of this type of work. Instead, the poor psychological well-being of these workers is associated with unfavorable psychosocial work factors, such as a poor employment status, a lack of job satisfaction, a lack of support from managers, and a bad social climate. These results thus suggest that the modification of psychosocial work factors may improve the psychological well-being of unskilled manual workers.

Keywords

EN

job satisfaction; job; manual workers; psychological well-being; occupational groups; unskilled workers

• Publisher: Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. dra Jerzego Nofera w Łodzi
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 789-804

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Jungsun Park

• Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongsan, South Korea (Department of Occupational Health)

author

Yangho Kim

• University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, South Korea (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)

Identifiers

DOI

10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01616

Biblioteka Nauki

2093854