Employment status change and new-onset depressive symptoms in permanent waged workers

ABSTRACT Objectives This study aimed to investigate the relationship between changes in employment status and new-onset depressive symptoms through a one-year follow-up of permanent waged workers. Methods We analyzed the open-source data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study. Using the 2017 data, we selected 2,314 permanent waged workers aged 19 to 59 years without depressive symptoms as a base group. The final analysis targeted 2,073 workers who were followed up in 2018. In 2018, there were five categories of employment status for workers who were followed up: permanent, precarious, unemployed, self-employed, and economically inactive. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association between employment status change and new-onset depressive symptoms. Results Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that among male workers, workers who went from permanent status to being unemployed (OR: 4.50, 95% CI: 1.19 to 17.06) and from permanent status to being precarious workers (OR: 3.15, 95% CI: 1.30 to 7.65) had significantly high levels of new-onset depressive symptoms compared to those who retained their permanent employment status. There were no significant increases in new-onset depressive symptoms of male workers who went from permanent status to being self-employed or economically inactive. On the other hand, no significant differences were found in female workers. Conclusion Our study suggests that the change of employment status to precarious workers or unemployment can cause new-onset depressive symptoms in male permanent waged workers.