Running head: JOB LOSS (IMPACT ON THE INDIVIDUAL) 1

Job Loss (Impact on the Individual)

Date

Institution
JOB LOSS (IMPACT ON THE INDIVIDUAL) 2

Job Loss (Impact on the Individual)

Job loss is a public health concern. Statistics reveal that unemployed individuals are

associated with higher mortality rates, poorer mental health, and physical health.

Voss and Chen (2015) reveal that job loss is associated with higher mortality rates. Also,

Coope, Donovan, Wilson, Barnes, Metcalfe, Hollingworth, and Gunnell (2015) indicate that 50

to 100 percent of people die after job loss due to an unhealthy diet and substance abuse. Suicide

is the leading way of deaths among the displaced workers in over 63 countries globally (Coope et

al., 2015). Furthermore, a recent study from European data indicates that between 2000 and

2011, over 63 countries, including Japan, Romania, the UK, US, and Denmark, experienced a

rose of suicides incidences by twenty to thirty percent (Dutheil, Naughton, Sindyga, & Lesage,

2016). Out of 233,000 suicides experienced yearly in those countries, 1 in 5 was due to job loss

(Dutheil et al., 2016). Correspondingly, a recent study of suicide deaths in Wales, also reveals

that between 2002 and 2005, job loss was a contributing factor to 23 percent of male suicides and

marijuana use (Okechukwu, Molino, & Soh, 2019).

Job loss also has a significant effect on individual mental and psychical health (Dutheil et

al., 2016). It disrupts an individual’s structure of relations, time structure, demonstration of skill

and competence, and status (Coope et al., 2015; Bennett, Kearney, Donnelly, Downing, Wright,

Wilding, & Gavin, 2018). It also creates a sense of shame, stigma, and insecurity. For instance,

Okechukwu, Molino, and Soh (2019) reveal that job loss presents a source of acute stress

resulting from psychological, economic, and social. It also indicates that displaced workers

report higher levels of anxiety, somatization, and depressive symptoms. They also present loss of

psychological issues such as goal, morale, self-control, and self-control.

JOB LOSS (IMPACT ON THE INDIVIDUAL) 3

Summarily, job loss has diverse effects on the affected. It leads to worse physical and

mental health, losses of incomes, and higher mortality rates.

JOB LOSS (IMPACT ON THE INDIVIDUAL) 4

References

Bennett, D., Kearney, T., Donnelly, D. W., Downing, A., Wright, P., Wilding, S., ... & Gavin, A.

(2018). Factors influencing job loss and early retirement in working men with prostate

cancer—findings from the population-based Life After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

(LAPCD) study. Journal of Cancer Survivorship, 12(5), 669-678.

Coope, C., Donovan, J., Wilson, C., Barnes, M., Metcalfe, C., Hollingworth, W., ... & Gunnell,

D. (2015). Characteristics of people dying by suicide after a job loss, financial

difficulties, and other economic stressors during a period of recession (2010–2011): A

review of coroners‫ ׳‬records. Journal of Affective Disorders, 183, 98-105.

Dutheil, F., Naughton, G., Sindyga, P., & Lesage, F. X. (2016). Ill Health-Related Job Loss: A

One-Year Follow-Up of 54,026 Employees. Journal of Occupational and Environmental

Medicine, 58(9), 918-923.

Okechukwu, C. A., Molino, J., & Soh, Y. (2019). Associations Between Marijuana Use and

Involuntary Job Loss in US-representative longitudinal and cross-sectional

samples. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 61(1), 21.

Voss, M., & Chen, J. (2015). Health Status After Job Loss: Does the Reason for Job Change

Matter?. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 57(12), 1319-1324.