Investigating Employment Quality for Population Health and Health Equity: A Perspective of Power

Kaori Fujishiro (), Emily Q. Ahonen and Megan Winkler
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Kaori Fujishiro: Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
Emily Q. Ahonen: Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
Megan Winkler: Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: Employment quality (EQ) has gained increasing attention as a determinant of health, but the debate among occupational health researchers over the measurement of EQ poses a challenge to advancing the literature. This is especially problematic when the concept is used across social, cultural, and national borders, as EQ is shaped by power dynamics within sociopolitical and economic contexts that are specific to each society. Investigating EQ in context could help develop a clearer understanding as to why EQ is configured in certain ways, how best EQ could be measured, how EQ impacts health, and ultimately how EQ could be improved. In this paper, we propose that attention to social context—and in particular power—may help advance the research on EQ and health. We present an allegory, or a visual description, that articulates the power balance in the employer–worker relation as well as in the sociopolitical context in which the employer–worker relation takes place. We end by proposing specific approaches for occupational health researchers to incorporate a perspective of power in EQ research that may clarify the concept and measurement of EQ. A clearer recognition of EQ as a product of power in social context aligns with the research approach of addressing work as a social structural determinant of health.

Keywords: occupational safety and health; health disparities; social determinant of health; employment conditions; employment quality; precarious employment; institution; social policy; power resource (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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