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.

The findings suggest government policies shouldn't focus solely on reducing unemployment. The conditions of those jobs, including benefits, hours and flexibility, should be considered as well, said Joseph Grzywacz, an associate professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., who was not involved with the study.

"The people who look at employment and unemployment tend to think that all jobs are created equal,"  Grzywacz told MyHealthNewsDaily. "This is further evidence suggesting that all jobs are not created equal."

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