The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: March 20, 2011

Official News page 7


REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU WORK WAS BAD FOR YOU

by Hazed

Being out of work is demoralizing. Everyone knows that. Get yourself a job - no matter how low-paid or menial - and you're bound to feel better.

But it turns out that what everyone knows may not be true after all. Having a bad job is just as damaging to your mental health as being unemployed.

Researchers analyzed more than 7,000 Australians of working age, looking at a large number of data points. They found that people defined good jobs as those that, among other things, provided a defined social role and purpose, friendships, and structured time. Being employed into one of these jobs resulted in an overall improvement in mental health.

On the other hand, those in jobs that offered them little control, were very demanding, and provided little support or reward, resulted in a general decrease in mental health.

So programs designed to get the unemployed into work may not be having the desired effect on their mental well-being!

Source: http://io9.com/#!5782643/a-bad-job-is-just-as-damaging-to-your-mental-health-as-unemployment


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