Work‐related distress in the 1990s ‐ a real increase in ill health?

Over recent years there have been massive changes in working life and workplaces. Across the 1990s there has been a marked increase in reports of work‐related psychological distress in the UK. This paper uses the results of the most recent Occupational Health Decennial supplement (Office for National Statistics (ONS) & Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 2007), based on nationally representative data sources on distress at work, working conditions, sickness absence and psychiatric morbidity to examine the reasons for the apparent increase in work‐related psychological distress.