Keywords
How to Cite
Abstract
Objective: Identify the psychometric properties of a measure of Employment Precariousness (EP) in six Central American Spanish-speaking countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) through the items of the EPRES scale (Employment Precariousness Scale) included in the II Central American Survey of Working Conditions and Health (II ECCTS) of 2018.
Methods: The sample was 3,782 salaried persons, aged 18 and older, formal and informal, who participated in the II ECCTS. An EP measure of 10 items was constructed, grouped in the dimensions of temporality, salary, labor rights, and exercise of these rights.
Results: The sample was composed mostly of men, with a permanent contract, with a working age of between 2 to 5 years, a salary between $301 and $500s, who have labor rights and who exercise them. The factorial structure could not be verified. However, nine of the ten articles showed a high factorial load with their dimensions. A high acceptability of the EP measure was observed, and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficients of the dimensions were between 0.59 and 0.72, except for temporality (0.30). The reliability of the total scale was 0.68 and the EP patterns in women, youth, temporary and lower income countries were as expected.
Conclusions: The EP measure constructed from the items available from the EPRES scale in the II ECCTS questionnaire shows acceptable psychometric properties to approximate the epidemiological quantification of job insecurity in Central America.
References
Quinlan M, Mayhew C, Bohle P. The global expansion of precarious employment, work disorganization, and consequences for occupational health: placing the debate in a comparative historical context. International Journal of Health Services. 2001;31(3):507-36.
Benach J, Julià M, Bolíbar M, Amable M, Vives A. Precarious employment, health, and quality of life: Context, analysis, and impacts. Violence and Abuse in and around Organisations2018. p. 292-314.
Benavides FG, Delclós J, Serra C. Estado de bienestar y salud pública: el papel de la salud laboral. Gaceta Sanitaria. 2018;32(4):377-80.
Vives A, Amable M, Ferrer M, Moncada S, Llorens C, Muntaner C, et al. Employment precariousness and poor mental health: evidence from Spain on a new social determinant of health. Journal of environmental and public health. 2013. doi: 10.1155/2013/978656.
Puig-Barrachina V, Vanroelen C, Vives A, Martinez JM, Muntaner C, Levecque K, et al. Measuring employment precariousness in the European Working Conditions Survey: The social distribution in Europe. Work-a Journal of Prevention Assessment & Rehabilitation. 2014;49(1):143-61.
Ronnblad T, Gronholm E, Jonsson J, Koranyi I, Orellana C, Kreshpaj B, et al. Precarious employment and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health. 2019;45(5):429-43.
Kreshpaj B, Orellana C, Burstrom B, Davis L, Hemmingsson T, Johansson G, et al. What is precarious employment? A systematic review of definitions and operationalizations from quantitative and qualitative studies. Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health. 2020;46(3):235-47.
Quinlan M. The ‘pre-invention’of precarious employment: the changing world of work in context. The Economic and Labour Relations Review. 2012;23(4):3-24.
Vives A, Amable M, Ferrer M, Moncada S, Llorens C, Muntaner C, et al. The Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES): psychometric properties of a new tool for epidemiological studies among waged and salaried workers. Occup Environ Med. 2010;67(8):548-55.
Benach J, Julia M, Tarafa G, Mir J, Molinero E, Vives A. Multidimensional measurement of precarious employment: social distribution and its association with health in Catalonia (Spain). Gaceta Sanitaria. 2015;29(5):375-8.
Benach J, Julia M, Bolibar M, Amable M, Vives A. Precarious employment, health, and quality of life Context, analysis, and impacts. In: Burke RJ, Cooper CL, editors. Violence and Abuse in and around Organisations. Psychological and Behavioural Aspects of Risk. Abingdon: Routledge; 2018. p. 292-314.
Benach J, Vives A, Amable M, Vanroelen C, Tarafa G, Muntaner C. Precarious employment: understanding an emerging social determinant of health. Annu Rev Public Health. 2014;35:229-53. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182500.
Vives A, González F, Solar O, Bernales P, González MJ, Benach J. Precarious employment in Chile: psychometric properties of the Chilean version of Employment Precariousness Scale in private sector workers. Cad Saúde Pública. 2017;33(3):1-13.
Vives A, Gonzalez F, Moncada S, Llorens C, Benach J. Measuring precarious employment in times of crisis: the revised Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES) in Spain. Gac Sanit. 2015;29(5):379-82.
Jonsson J, Vives A, Benach J, Kjellberg K, Selander J, Johansson G, et al. Measuring precarious employment in Sweden: translation, adaptation and psychometric properties of the Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES). Bmj Open. 2019;9(9):11.
Julià M, Vanroelen C, Bosmans K, Van Aerden K, Benach J. Precarious employment and quality of employment in relation to health and well-being in Europe. International Journal of Health Services. 2017;47(3):389-409.
Padrosa E, Bolíbar M, Julià M, Benach J. Comparing Precarious Employment Across Countries: Measurement Invariance of the Employment Precariousness Scale for Europe (EPRES-E). Social Indicators Research. 2021;154(3):893-915.
Benach J, Vives A, Tarafa G, Delclos C, Muntaner C. What should we know about precarious employment and health in 2025? Framing the agenda for the next decade of research. International journal of epidemiology. 2016;45(1):232-8.
Padrosa E, Vanroelen C, Muntaner C, Benach J, Julià M. Precarious employment and mental health across European welfare states: a gender perspective. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health. 2022:1-18.
Tsopoki Vassiliki M, Sourtzi P, Galanis P, Vives A, Benach J, Tziaferi S, et al. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES) in employees in Greece. Nurs Care Research. 2019;53(1),23-37.
Hewison K, Kalleberg AL. Precarious work and flexibilization in South and Southeast Asia. American Behavioral Scientist. 2013;57(4):395-402.
Salas MM, Sarmiento H, Tilly C. The Transformation of Work: Challenges and Strategies-The Precarious Work in Construction in Guatemala and Costa Rica. 2015. Disponible en: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/41q3d7z9
Sabillón J, Aragón A, López I. Medición multidimensional de la precariedad laboral en Centroamérica. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. 2018;162(4):117-29.
Gimeno Ruiz de Porras D, Delclos GL. Survey Report of Working Conditions and Health in Central America (DOL Grant # IL-29677-16-75-K-48). Department of Labor (USDOL) Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB). US. 2020. Disponible en: go.uth.edu/centralamerica.
Gimeno Ruiz de Porras D. La II Encuesta Centroamericana de Condiciones de Trabajo y Salud. Arch Prev Riesgos Labor. 2019;22(3):118-20.
Horn JL. A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika. 1965;30(2):179-85.
Bovaird JA, Koziol NA. Measurement models for ordered-categorical indicators. In: Hoyle RH, editor. Handbook of Structural Equation Modeling: Guilford Press; 2012. p. 495–511.
Hu L, Bentler PM. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural equation modeling: a multidisciplinary journal. 1999;6(1):1-55.
Streiner DL. Starting at the beginning: an introduction to coefficient alpha and internal consistency. Journal of personality assessment. 2003;80(1):99-103.
StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software: Release 14 . College Station, TX: StataCorp LP. 2015.
Muthén LK, Muthen BO. Mplus user’s guide: statistical analysis with latent variables, user’s guide. Eighth Edition ed. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén; 2017.
Mundial B. Ingreso nacional neto ajustado per cápita (US$ a precios actuals). 2019. Disponible en: https://datos.bancomundial.org/indicator/NY.ADJ.NNTY.PC.CD?locations=ES
González P, Sehnbruch K, Apablaza M, Pineda RM, Arriagada V. A multidimensional approach to measuring quality of employment (QoE) deprivation in six central American countries. Social Indicators Research. 2021:158:107-41.
Benavides FG, Silva-Peñaherrera M, Vives A. Informal employment, precariousness, and decent work: from research to preventive action. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. 2022;48(3):169-72.
Cranford CJ, Vosko LF, Zukewich N. Precarious employment in the Canadian labour market: A statistical portrait. Just labour. 2003.
Silva-Peñaherrera M, Lopez-Ruiz M, Merino-Salazar P, Gómez-García AR, Benavides FG. Health inequity in workers of Latin America and the Caribbean. International journal for equity in health. 2020;19(1):1-9.
Huenchuan S. Indicadores sobre envejecimiento y personas mayores en Centroamérica, México y el Caribe hispano. (LC/MEX/TS.2021/30), Ciudad de México, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL),2021.
Lopez-Ruiz M, Benavides FG, Vives A, Artazcoz L. Informal employment, unpaid care work, and health status in Spanish-speaking Central American countries: a gender-based approach. International Journal of Public Health. 2017;62(2):209-18.
The authors whose submissions are published in this Journal accept the following terms:
The copyright is held by the author(s), which will simultaneously be subject to a licence Creative Commons 4.0 BY-NC-ND.
The author(s) may enter into any other licence agreements for non-exclusive distribution of versions of the published work (e.g. deposit in an institutional repository or publication in a collective work) provided that the initial publication in this Journal is stated.
The author/s is/are permitted and recommended to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges and increase the number of citations of the published work. (See The effect of open access).