There are a lot of people without jobs right now. However, maybe it is not the worst thing after all. According to a new study, your health is directly related to your happiness and dead end jobs that drive you nuts may be worse for your overall health than not working at all.

A study was conducted on Australians, well known to have some of the best quality of life scores on the planet. Researchers analyzed data from more than 7,000 people of working age in Australia and were not surprised to find that those who were unemployed had poorer mental health overall than those with jobs. However, the study authors also found that the mental health of people with badly paid, poorly supported or short-term jobs could be as bad as, or even worse, than that of those who were jobless.

The study’s authors write:

“Work-first policies are based on the notion that any job is better than none as work promotes economic as well as personal wellbeing. Psychosocial job quality is a pivotal factor that needs to be considered in the design and delivery of employment and welfare policy.”

Mental health plummeted over time in those persons working at dead end jobs or ones they loathed heading to from home. The researchers found a direct association between the number of unfavorable working conditions and mental health, with each additional negative job aspect reducing a person’s mental health score.

For unemployed people, the health benefits of finding a job depended on the quality of the job. Getting a high quality job after being unemployed boosted mental health by an average of 3 points, but getting a poor quality job led to a mental health decline of 5.6 points.

According to the United States Department of Labor, in January the hire rate was essentially unchanged at 2.8%. The number of hires decreased in construction but was little changed in every other industry and region. At 3.7 million, the number of monthly hires in January was well below the 5.0 million monthly hires in December 2007 when the recession began.

Over the 12 months ending in January, the hire rate (not seasonally adjusted) was little changed for total nonfarm, total private, and government. The hire rate fell over the year in construction and federal government but rose in wholesale trade. The rate also fell in the Northeast region.

Total job “separations,” or turnover rate, was little changed at 2.7% in January. Over the 12 months ending in January, the total separations rate (not seasonally adjusted) was essentially unchanged for total nonfarm, total private, and government.

The layoffs and discharges rate was essentially unchanged in January for total nonfarm and total private but fell for government. After peaking at 2.5 million in February 2009, the number of layoffs and discharges for total nonfarm fell to a series low of 1.5 million in January 2011.

After taking account of a range of factors with the potential to influence the results, such as educational attainment and marital status, the mental health of those who were jobless was comparable to, or often better than, that of people in work, but in poor quality jobs.

In general conclusion, those persons in the poorest quality jobs experienced the sharpest decline in mental health over time compared to their jobless counterparts.

Sources: Occupational & Environmental Medicine and The United States Department of Labor

Written by Sy Kraft, B.A.