Employees who feel their jobs are not secure are more likely to rate themselves in poor health and have increased symptoms of anxiety and depression, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Michigan found that workers with job insecurity were nearly four times more likely to report symptoms of anxiety attacks and close to seven times more likely to have symptoms suggesting minor or major depression.

The study analysed data on about 440 working-aged adults living in southeast Michigan in 2009-10.

The analysis was part of a larger study to assess the impact of the recent economic recession and ongoing recovery on the lives of workers in the Detroit area, which was hit particularly hard by the “Great Recession”.

Nearly 18 per cent of workers perceived their job was insecure and felt it was at least “fairly likely” that they would lose their job or be laid off within the next year.

Workers with job insecurity rated their health lower than workers who perceived their jobs as more secure and they were nearly three times more likely to rate their health as fair to poor.

“The study provides some of the first available evidence on the extent and distribution of perceived job insecurity and its association with health in the wake of the Great Recession,” lead researcher Sarah A Burgard said in a statement.

The study was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.