Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the current status of emotional labour (EL) and to find out physical health effects of EL.

Methods Workers of 50 jobs frequently deal with client participated in survey (N = 5,152, male = 2,588, female = 2,564). EL and job stress measured with the Korean Emotional Labour Scale (K-ELS) and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form (KOSS-SF). Health outcomes measured by asking the symptoms and the experiences of specific disease diagnosis.

Results We suggested that crews, information/receipt/customer response/statistical research related clerks, car drivers, and so on were EL high-risk jobs. Headache, abdominal pain, dyspnea, chest pain, fatigue, and musculoskeletal symptoms were more frequent in high EL group. Many of gastrointestinal disease were associated with EL, i.e., gastritis [men: OR 1.43 (1.10–1.86)], irritable bowel syndrome [men: OR 1.69 (1.09–2.62), women: OR 3.16 (2.01–4.98)], functional dyspepsia [men: OR 2.01 (1.35–3.00), women: OR 2.64 (1.84–3.78)], and functional abdominal pain [women: 3.77 (1.89–7.5)].

Conclusion It might be expected that the list of job categories suggested as high-risk group in this study will be used to conduct intensive control measures and will help to establishment of policies. Even after adjusting for job stress, associations between the prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases and the EL were significant. However, in order to clarify the causal relationship between the impact of the emotional labour and physical health, it requires a prospective study.