Background: Since the 1997 economic crisis in Korea, the number of non-standard workers has greatly increased with little information available on associated changes in quality of life. In addition, non-standard work is known to be closely related to workers’ health and social problems. Hence, this study was designed to compare standard and non-standard workers in terms of quality of life and related factors.

Methods: Data were extracted from the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted in 2012. Of the 1,786 participants selected, 935 were male over 19 years of age. Based on the information provided by a self-administered questionnaire, subjects were categorized according to their employment status (standard and non-standard). Differences in sociodemographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, and job characteristics were assessed by chi-square test and t-test. The EuroQol-five dimensions (EQ-5D) index was implemented in order to measure quality of life. Differences in the EQ-5D index scores between groups were compared by t-test and backward stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results: Standard workers have a higher average EQ-5D index score (0.974) than non-standard workers (0.954) (P<0.001). Employment status itself was not an influential factor on quality of life (OR,1.02;P=0.916). Reducing factors of the EQ-5D index in all study subjects were gender (OR,0.74;P=0.022), age (OR,0.56;P<0.001), perceived health status (OR,0.33;P<0.001), stress perception (OR,0.53;P<0.005), depressive symptoms (OR,0.66;P=0.029), and suicidal ideation (OR,0.40;P<0.001).

Conclusion: This study concludes that non-standard work is related to lower quality of life and related factors (socio-demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, and job characteristics) in Korean workers. In addition, mental health can have a significant impact on quality of life in Korean workers.