Recent Research on the Psychological Effects of Unemployment

Economic turbulence in the early 1980s stimulated not only popular and governmental concern about the effects of unemployment, but also extensive research on the topic. This journal issue presents 10 representative reports of such recent research from the United States and Europe. Of the two principal methodologies used in this field, aggregate time-series analysis and individual-level surveys, this issue is limited to the individual-level literature. Two papers provide a social psychological and human developmental orientation to the topic. Then, six papers address the psychological costs of unemployment, four based on population surveys and two dealing with plant closings. Finally, two papers describe policy responses being considered or implemented in North America and Europe.