Impact of Re-employment on Psychological Distress among Long-term Unemployed

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Abstract
This article reports results from a two-wave panel study representative of long-term unemployed in Norway in 1991-92. We looked especially at the impact of re-employment on psychological distress. Is any job better than unemployment, and does re-employment improve mental health dramatically? Our findings showed that re-employed people did not have less distress than those still unemployed and outside the labour force when other factors were controlled for. What mattered was that re-employment represented a secure job. High risk of distress was especially persistent among those who experienced financial hardship and marital break-up and who had not had previous psychological distress. Women exhibited higher distress than men, and older persons higher distress than younger. To a certain extent, psychological distress was unrelated to the unemployment situation itself, but seemed instead to be due to a selective process ending in long-term unemployment experienced by persons with psychological distress at the outset of joblessness. These persons experienced cumulative problems related to poor economic situations and marginal positions in the labour-market. Earlier research has tended to overestimate the emotional damage created by job loss per se and the beneficial effects of re-employment.