Social protection and the employment contract: The impact on work absence

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the impact of temporary employment on all-cause sickness absence of one week or more with a focus on how this relationship is moderated by factors related to social protection (job tenure, union membership and firm size). PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 5,307 individuals who experienced 9,574 distinct job episodes was drawn from a longitudinal Canadian labour market survey (2000-2004). METHODS: Duration analysis was undertaken to model the time from the start of a job to the first sickness absence. Specifically, a proportional hazard model was estimated using a complementary log-log function for continuous time processes. RESULTS: Findings showed that temporary employment was associated with a lower rate of sickness absence after controlling for tenure, prior health status, and several other individual and job characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the lack of social protection in temporary jobs is a powerful determinant of absence taking, even in the case of serious health conditions that require an absence of one week or more.