Losing a Job: The Nonpecuniary Cost of Unemployment in the United States

Drawing on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I track the subjective well-being of individuals as they enter and exit unemployment. Job loss is a salient trigger event that sets off large changes in well-being. The factors expected to improve the lot of the unemployed have limited efficacy: (1) cha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 2012-12, Vol.91 (2), p.609-633
Main Author: Young, Cristobal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Effectiveness
Effects
Eligibility
Employment
Family
Family Income
Hardship
Income
Insurance
Job hunting
Job loss
Labor markets
Low Income Groups
Panel surveys
Poor
Psychological aspects
Quality of life
Reentry Workers
Scars
Social Welfare
Sociology
Sociology of work
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
U.S.A
Unemployed workers
Unemployment
Unemployment insurance
Unit costs
United States
United States of America
Well Being
Wellbeing
Work
Workforce
Working population. Employment. Women's work
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Summary:Drawing on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I track the subjective well-being of individuals as they enter and exit unemployment. Job loss is a salient trigger event that sets off large changes in well-being. The factors expected to improve the lot of the unemployed have limited efficacy: (1) changes in family income are not significantly correlated with well-being; (2) unemployment insurance eligibility seems to partly mitigate the effect of job loss, but is a poor substitute for work; and (3) even reemployment recovers only about two thirds of the initial harm of job loss, indicating a potential long-term scar effect of unemployment. This highlights the deep and intractable hardship caused by unemployment in America.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1093/sf/sos071