Being unemployed can be stressful, but the psychological toll of having a poorly paid, demanding job can be just as bad for mental health as having no job at all, a new study finds.

In addition, becoming employed isn’t always a boon for mental health. Study participants who transitioned from being unemployed to being employed in a poor-quality job showed a worsening of their mental health, the researchers, from The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, say.