Job stress is a large and growing concern in Australia and internationally. Workplace psychosocial stressors have been linked to poor mental and physical health in a growing body of scientific evidence. Stressors with the strongest evidence linking them to poor mental health include job demands, job control, the combination of high job demands and low job control, job insecurity, low social support at work, and effort-reward imbalance.

This study found that “job strain”, where workers have little control over their job, but who are under high pressure to perform, accounts for 17 per cent of depression in working women and 13 per cent in working men.