BACKGROUND: This research was conducted with an aim of determining the association between employment status and self-rated health. METHODS: Using the data from the Third Korean Working Conditions Survey conducted in 2011, We included data from 34,783 respondents, excluding employers, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, others. Self-rated health was compared according to employment status and a logistic regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Among the 34,783 workers, the number of permanent and non-permanent workers was 27,564 (79.2 %) and 7,219 (20.8 %). The risk that the self-rated health of non-permanent workers was poor was 1.20 times higher when both socio-demographic factors, work environment and work hazards were corrected. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, perceived health was found to be worse in the non-permanent workers than permanent workers. Additional research should investigate whether other factors mediate the relationship between employment status and perceived health.