Heading C: Effects of Unemployment on Public Health

A Mental despair due to absence of job- anxiety, financial burden

Introduction
Employment is an extensive social determinant of health and welfare (McKee-
Ryan et al., 2005). Employment is crucial for physical and mental health and gives
financial stability. In addition, it also gives the chance to fulfill a social role
(McKee-Ryan et al., 2005). Research has shown a strong connection between
unemployment and poorer self-rated mental and physical health (McKee-Ryan et
al., 2005), as well as lower survival (Roelfs et al., 2011). Apart from impacting
personal health and happiness, unemployment plays the role of a significant
financial strain on the community (OECD, 2014). A clear apprehension of the
determinants of unemployment and a more profound knowledge of the factors that
contribute to adult unemployment may help lessen its adverse effects on both
individuals and society as a whole. (The Importance of Education for the
Unemployed, n.d.).

Mental despair due to absence of job- anxiety, financial burden :

A higher risk of mental illness has been linked to both perceived work uncertainty
and unemployment. Furthermore, it has been suggested that having an unstable job
could be just as harmful as being unemployed (Hannerz et al., 2022).

Risks to mental health

Studies on unemployment indicate that even in the absence of severe financial
hardship, leaving one's work has a negative impact on one's mental and frequently
physical well-being. "Our work gives us a sense of identity, purpose, and time
management," says Connie Wanberg, PhD, an industrial and organizational
psychologist at the University of Minnesota. "It also fosters social interactions with
others." "People have a lot of difficulties when they lose all that."(The Toll of Job
Loss, n.d.)

According to the analysis, the impact of unemployment is probably causative:

Longitudinal studies show that when jobless persons find new employment, their
mental health improves. Research on factory closures, in which all employees lose
their jobs simultaneously, also reveals that almost all laid-off workers go through
subsequent declines in mental health; this suggests that job loss itself is detrimental
to mental health, rather than those who are mentally ill being more likely to face
unemployment. People fare worse the longer they are unemployed, with those
without a job for six months or longer suffering the biggest effects on their mental
health. According to Paul and Moser's meta-analysis, countries with significant
wealth disparity and lax unemployment benefits have poorer outcomes for jobless
people's mental health, which puts Americans at risk. The United States has the
highest income disparity of any G-7 nation, as indicated by the Gini coefficient, an
economic indicator of inequality, and very lax unemployment insurance. Compared
to workers in other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) nations, a large number of laid-off workers lose their job-based
health insurance and receive less substantial unemployment compensation. (The
Toll of Job Loss, n.d.)

The effects of covid 19 on unemployment

Mental health is negatively impacted by both unemployment and low-quality work.
The two main topics of this lengthy read are mental health and unemployment.
Before the epidemic, unemployment in the UK was at an all-time low, but as a
result of pandemic restrictions, it has since started to grow and is predicted to rise
even more. It has been more than a year since the implementation of policy
measures aimed at managing the COVID-19 epidemic. The UK labor market and
the general public's mental health are two areas where those restrictions are still
having an effect. Because of the intricate relationship between unemployment and
mental health, programs meant to treat one issue shouldn't ignore the other. The
Unemployment rate is still expected to hit a seven-year high by the end of 2021,
even with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme extended until the end of
September. It is appropriate that the Budget's policies center on addressing the
anticipated increase in unemployment and promoting economic recovery. If they
don't also address the pandemic's effects on unemployment and mental health, their
influence will be insufficient. (Unemployment and Mental Health - The Health
Foundation, n.d.) .

What is the connection between mental health and

unemployment?

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that unemployment, defined as not having a

job but actively pursuing one, negatively affects a number of health outcomes.
There are various ways that unemployment might be detrimental to one's health:
due to stress and low self-esteem brought on by the loss of the regular work
schedule or the stigma attached to being unemployed. As a result of stress, which is
harmful to one's health, brought on by financial difficulty, insecurity, and a
reduction in future earning potential.,from the social security system itself, which
can negatively affect mental health due to work capacity tests, the claims
procedure, and the terms of job searches. Long-term unemployment has been
demonstrated to have negative effects on both physical and mental health as well
as life satisfaction. Extended periods of lower income, job loss, or unemployment
have resulted from pandemic limitations; the length of these situations is especially
concerning.

The long-term damage that unemployment can do to one's future earning potential
is one of the reasons why policymakers are interested in unemployment, especially
when it affects young people. Research, however, also indicates that young
unemployment—as well as several periods of unemployment—may have long-
term detrimental impacts on mental health. (Unemployment and Mental Health -
The Health Foundation, n.d.) .

The impact of rising unemployment on mental health.

Future studies on the effects of job loss, income fluctuations, and other economic
and welfare policies on mental health will be conducted by Thomson, Katikireddi,
et al. An indicator of the effect of the anticipated increase in unemployment by the
upcoming winter on mental health might be given using preliminary estimates.
According to OBR forecasts, by the last quarter of 2021, the unemployment rate is
expected to reach 6.5%, which would mean that there will be 940,000 more
unemployed persons in the UK than there were in the same period in 2019. We
estimate this would result in an additional 200,000 persons with poor mental health
over the same period, based on the age profile of unemployment in the most recent
ONS data and the association found in Katikireddi's research. By contrast, our
examination of the UK Household Longitudinal Study's January wave indicates
that 700,000 jobless persons experienced poor mental health in January 2021.
When combined with the anticipated growth, this points to 800,000 jobless
individuals with poor mental health by the end of 2021. (Unemployment and Mental
Health - The Health Foundation, n.d.) .

Both those who transition from employment to unemployment and those who stay
unemployed during this time are taken into account in our estimate of the rise in
poor mental health. The same research emphasizes the necessity for policies that
create jobs and assist people in finding jobs by showing that, on average, shifting
from unemployment into employment helps minimize bad mental health. This does
not hold true for all types of labor, though. A decline in mental health may result
from switching from unemployment to low-quality employment or from having
negative experiences with the social security system. It is therefore impossible to
rely on boosting employment alone to promote the country's recovery in terms of
mental health without taking these broader factors into account. (Unemployment and
Mental Health - The Health Foundation, n.d.) .

Educational background leads to unemployment, and the

aftereffects are low income.
Poverty and unemployment are closely associated. Individuals with little education
or those who just completed elementary school sometimes have low-paying jobs or
struggle to get any kind of employment at all. To put it plainly, qualified workers
only get good jobs, and the main way to get qualified is through education.
Education becomes even more crucial in the current era of constant digitalization,
when knowledge becomes dated quickly and traditional jobs are gradually
disappearing. It is the primary determinant of an individual's ability to adjust to
changes, find a suitable job, or face unemployment. In an OECD poll, 69% of
those with less than a high school diploma and 88% of those with a higher
education reported being employed.(Lack of Education: Causes and Effects |
Allison Academy, n.d.)

The Domino Effect: Education, Unemployment, and Social

Standing
-Relating Low Education to Unemployment

According to several studies, one of the significant factors influencing work status
is low education (Robroek et al., 2013). According to the latest assessment from
the Organization for financial Co-operation and Development (OECD), grown
people with less education face up to four times higher unemployment risks in
Europe and the US than adults with higher education (OECD, 2010). Compared to
their older counterparts with greater levels of education, it is more difficult for
younger and older persons with low elevations of education to enter the labor
market (Barham et al., 2009). For those with less education, it is also more
challenging to remain in the workforce. Research has indicated that those with less
education are more likely to skill early retirement, disability benefits, and
unemployment after leaving the workforce (Schuring et al., 2013),(van Zon et al.,
2017) .

The relation of unemployment to poverty

Unemployment is closely related to poverty. People who finished their primary
school and stopped their education are paid less or struggle to find good and well-
paid jobs. Simply good jobs are kept for qualified employees. These qualifications
are taken throughout high-level education. Education becomes even more crucial
in the current era of constant digitalization, traditional jobs will not be available
anymore, hence the new and the up-to-date jobs will require high level education,
so individuals should be able to adjust to changes, find a suitable job, or face
unemployment. There was a survey conducted by OECD, the results of this survey
indicated that 69% of people with lower secondary education are employed,
whereas 88% of people with higher education are employed. . Poor families will
not be able to provide schools and good education to their children, in this way
they are not going to be well educated and will not have enough skills which will
lead to unemployment, so families should face poverty as it is going to be affecting
their future and their children . People with low education and skills normally end
up working as low-income labors. By addressing the underlying cause of the issues
—education—I want to see a shift in the global rate of poverty and unemployment.
Everyone should be well educate no matter what is their financial conditions.
(Lack of Education: Causes and Effects | Allison Academy, n.d.)

Psychological Implications of Joblessness

-Unemployment’s Effect on Health:
Unemployment may cause poor health, or "health causation," but it may also play a
significant role in determining one's work status or "health selection" (Burgard &
Lin, 2013). Overall both physical and mental health, as well as chronic illnesses
like cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM), have been linked
in both Europe and the US to early retirement, absenteeism, unemployment, and
decline in work participation (Robroek et al., 2013), (van Zon et al., 2017).

Mental health consequences of unemployment :

Furthermore, though there is little data to support this theory, low health and low
education may combine to have an even more significant negative influence on
unemployment than the sum of their respective effects (Ahlbom & Alfredsson,
2005). Poor health can make it more challenging for those with less education to
get work, keep a job, and then return to the workforce after being unemployed.
They may find that their jobs require more physical or mental exertion (Hämmig &
Bauer, 2013), that specially designed work arrangements are more unusual
(Burgard & Lin, 2013), or that they lack the psychological resources to deal with
these difficulties (Taylor & Seeman, 1999). Understanding the correlation between
poor health and low education will help policymakers and interventionists better
target social programs and services that attempt to enhance the status of vulnerable
populations in the labor market (van Zon et al., 2017).

How does one's educational background impact their job

prospects and subsequently their health?
By age group, there may be significant differences in the individual and combined
relationships between unemployment and inadequate health and education. In the
Netherlands, for instance, educational achievement levels have been gradually
increasing throughout subsequent birth cohorts. As a result, in 2010, 83% of
individuals aged 25 to 34 had guarantee at least an upper secondary school,
compared to 61% of those aged 55 to 64 (OECD, 2012). Because of this, the
proportion of the population with lower educational attainment is getting smaller
but still more vulnerable to entering the labor force. Furthermore, there are now
fewer job prospects for those at the beneath end of the educational range in the
labor market (Barham et al., 2009), (van Zon et al., 2017).

Poverty health may exhibit an age consequence on work and a cohort effect on
education. In other words, being in poor bodily health may be more detrimental at
youthful ages since there are more physically fit workers in this age range than in
later age groups (Niccoli & Partridge, 2012). Poor mental health is more prevalent
in younger adult age groups than in older adult age classifications, in contrast to
poor physical health (Chandola et al. Whiteford et al. (2015); 2007). However, in
the early phases of employment, when people have limited work skills to make up
for mental health issues, it may be challenging for them to meet the demands of
their jobs daily (Barham et al., 2009). Furthermore, people with worse physical or
mental health may gradually choose less demanding jobs (Burgard & Lin, 2013),
which lessens the risk of bad mental health in one's employment compared to
earlier in one's career. In conclusion, young individuals looking for or attempting
to keep a job may find it especially difficult to deal with the combined negative
consequences of low education and bad health, and these effects may interact more
strongly in these age groups than they will later in life (van Zon et al., 2017).
This study's primary goal is to rate the independent and combined effects of week
education and frail physical and mental health on unemployment at three distinct
periods of the practical life cycle: early, mid, and late. We presume that low
education and lousy health degree increase each other's possibility of
unemployment. This exacerbation is more significant in youthful than older adults,
construct on the significance of both high educational attainment and good health
for victorious involvement in labor (van Zon et al., 2017).

In my opinion, unemployment is so hard to accept and deal with and as mentioned

above unemployment has a lot of defects on mental health which obviously has an
effect on persons lifestyle. One of the important factors that cause unemployment
is low educational level. Education is extremely important to be taken care of in
our generation to have a good job with high income .

At the end our research demonstrates that, at various periods of the work life cycle,
unemployment is independently correlated with low levels of education and poor
mental and physical health. Furthermore, we discovered some evidence that the
detrimental effects of poor health and inadequate education on unemployment are
amplified on an additive basis. Although the results in the mid-life were
statistically more robust—possibly because of variations in sample size—the
interaction effects were most constant for persons in the early and mid-life stages
of their careers. Additionally, it seemed that lousy health—feeble mental health—
exacerbated the impact of low education on unemployment in later life.
( Reijneveld, S. A., & Bültmann, U. 2017) (van Zon et al., 2017).
Case study

The reduction, in health spending in Western countries, coupled with the decrease
in unemployment insurance coverage and benefits has had a negative impact on
overall health and well being. However there hasn't been research conducted to
understand how these effects vary among population subgroups. In 2006 Sweden
implemented a reform to its unemployment insurance system. This reform included
membership fees, lower benefit levels and stricter eligibility requirements. The
current study suggests that this reform would have a impact on the health outcomes
of marginalized groups with lower socioeconomic status, such, as low income
individuals and foreign born individuals.

In this study there are methods to investigate the health effects of the reform, on
different factors like ethnicity, education, employment and gender. To gather data
for the population they relied on register records. The main focus is on
hospitalizations related to alcohol related disorders as these diseases tend to
manifest after exposure. During the study period (2001-2012) the rates of
hospitalization were analyzed due to alcohol related disorders, among individuals
aged 30-60 using regression discontinuity models. They have assigned the
threshold date at January 1 2007.

The results suggest that the overall reform did not have an effect, on the rates of
hospitalization for alcohol related disorders. However it is worth mentioning that
there has been an increase in the unemployment rate primarily affecting men,
individuals, with low education levels and individuals who were either born in
Sweden or have parents of foreign descent.

They have found that within segments of the population, which are known to have
higher alcohol consumption the reform, in Swedish unemployment insurance in
2006 generally led to an increase, in the number of hospitalizations related to
alcohol related disorders. (van Zon et al., 2017)
References
Hannerz, H., Burr, H., Soll-Johanning, H., Nielsen, M. L., Garde, A. H., &

Flyvholm, M.-A. (2022). Fixed-term contract positions, unemployment and

mental ill health: A Danish cohort study. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1744.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14137-1

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The Importance of Education for the Unemployed. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30,

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van Zon, S. K. R., Reijneveld, S. A., Mendes de Leon, C. F., & Bültmann, U.

(2017). The impact of low education and poor health on unemployment

varies by work life stage. International Journal of Public Health, 62(9),

997–1006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-0972-7