Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff,
Speaker 1: it's Christian Seger. Many. People have had a job that
Speaker 1: makes them miserable. Maybe the hours are erratic or long,
Speaker 1: the work soul crushing, the employer thankless, or the pay
Speaker 1: is just dismal. But still that's better than sitting at
Speaker 1: home with no pay at all. Right, Well maybe not,
Speaker 1: according to a new study out of the University of Manchester.
Speaker 1: Prior research has found that unemployment is linked to health
Speaker 1: risks like smoking and depression, and is even associated with
Speaker 1: higher mortality rates, and getting a job after being unemployed
Speaker 1: has been shown to have positive effects on health and
Speaker 1: quality of life. Yet, the authors of the current study
Speaker 1: found that people who were previously unemployed and moved into
Speaker 1: poor quality jobs, those with low pay, low job satisfaction,
Speaker 1: low job stability, and high job anxiety did not see
Speaker 1: improvements in health or lower levels of stress compared to
Speaker 1: those who stayed unemployed. The researchers used data on one thousand,
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixteen British adults from Understanding Society, a
Speaker 1: longitudinal study on life in the UK. They found that
Speaker 1: transitioning into a good job was associated with improved mental health,
Speaker 1: as compared to staying unemployed. Mental health was the same
Speaker 1: for those who got a poor quality job and those
Speaker 1: who remained jobless. But here's the surprising finding. By analyzing
Speaker 1: levels of stress through hormones and other biomarkers like blood
Speaker 1: pressure and cholesterol, the researchers determined that working a bad
Speaker 1: job was associated with higher levels of chronic stress indicators
Speaker 1: than remaining unemployed. The researchers even pointed out that these
Speaker 1: biomarkers can be present before overt symptoms of ill health
Speaker 1: actually manifest, so it's possible that people's self report better
Speaker 1: health perceptions than the markers would actually indicate. This result
Speaker 1: is unexpected considering many people may assume that any job
Speaker 1: is better than no job. The researchers don't say that
Speaker 1: unemployed folks should just sit and wait for the perfect job,
Speaker 1: though being unemployed can present huge mental health challenges and
Speaker 1: can even adversely affect some cultural groups more than others.
Speaker 1: The researchers suggest people use their findings about the adverse
Speaker 1: health effects of poor jobs to work with their employers
Speaker 1: and doctors to ensure a healthier working environment. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Kate Kirshner, produced by Dylan Fagan, and
Speaker 1: for more on this and other topics, please visit us
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com.