Unemployment in United States

United States

There is a strong relationship between employment status and mental and physical health. Unemployment can lead to lower self-esteem, higher levels of depression and straining of family ties or loss of work friends, and it is associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality. Furthermore, the effects of job loss are not limited to the individual; studies have shown that it has a profound effect on impacted families and children. A stable, safe and well-paying job makes it easier for people to live in healthier neighborhoods, access health insurance benefits and afford quality child care, education and nutritious food — all critical factors to maintaining good health that unemployment jeopardizes. 

High unemployment rates can strain state economies by reducing tax revenue and increasing demand for unemployment insurance and social welfare programs.

Populations with higher unemployment rates include: 

• Young adults ages 16-24 compared with older working-age groups; young adults have consistently had the highest unemployment rates of any age group since 1990.
• Black and Hispanic people compared with Asian and white people. 
• Adults with less than a high school education; unemployment rates decrease with each increase in educational attainment.

Unemployment insurance or temporary financial help may alleviate the impact of unemployment on self-reported health.

Since higher educational attainment is associated with lower unemployment, strategies that improve educational outcomes could also reduce unemployment. The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends high school completion programs, such as vocational training and alternative schools. Additionally, the Institute of Education Sciences lists several recommendations for preventing dropouts and improving graduation rates, including providing intensive, individualized support to students who are at risk of dropping out and engaging students by offering curricula and programs that connect schoolwork with college and career success.

Healthy People 2030 tracks multiple measures related to employment and has an objective to increase the percentage of working-age people who are employed.

Brand, Jennie E. “The Far-Reaching Impact of Job Loss and Unemployment.” Annual Review of Sociology 41, no. 1 (August 14, 2015): 359–75. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043237.

Dooley, David, Jonathan Fielding, and Lennart Levi. “Health and Unemployment.” Annual Review of Public Health 17, no. 1 (January 1996): 449–65. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.pu.17.050196.002313.

Krug, Gerhard, Stefan Brandt, Markus Gamper, André Knabe, and Andreas Klärner. “Unemployment, Social Networks, and Health Inequalities.” In Social Networks and Health Inequalities, edited by Andreas Klärner, Markus Gamper, Sylvia Keim-Klärner, Irene Moor, Holger Von Der Lippe, and Nico Vonneilich, 215–29. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97722-1_12.

Kuka, Elira. “Quantifying the Benefits of Social Insurance: Unemployment Insurance and Health.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 102, no. 3 (June 2020): 490–505. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00865.

Nie, Jing, Jianglin Wang, and Dagfinn Aune. “Association between Employment Status and Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27207866.

Nikolova, Milena, and Boris N. Nikolaev. “Family Matters: The Effects of Parental Unemployment in Early Childhood and Adolescence on Subjective Well-Being Later in Life.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 181 (May 26, 2018): 312–31.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.05.005.