To the Editor:

It seems as though, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been made more

aware of the number of unemployed individuals within our communities. I feel that a general

consensus would find that unemployment is looked upon as a financial issue. Hourly rates at

businesses seem appealing, so why is it so hard to hire new employees? An opinion may be that

there is no excuse for individuals to be unemployed with all of these job opportunities being

offered. However, many people do not realize the impacts of unemployment on the health of an

individual, or on the overall health of the community. Unemployment can affect a person’s

ability to provide food, education, adequate healthcare, and/or childcare to his/her family. When

an individual who had previously been making $30/hour is unable to secure a job making more

than $12/hour, there is going to be a negative impact on that individual’s mental and emotional

wellness. Financial issues are not the only products of unemployment. The impact that

unemployment has on the community, especially regarding an individual’s physical, mental, and

emotional well-being, has yet to be recognized.

An interest has recently awoken to try and understand the correlation between

unemployment and its health implications. Just as being employed can provide income,

healthcare, housing, and social status, research indicates there is a direct relationship between

unemployment and what is now referred to as “deaths of despair.” These can be associated with

decreases in the number of secure, full-time jobs, changes within the welfare system, and general

workforce changes. Unemployment has also been linked in part to the increases in poorer

physical and mental health, suicide rates, and opioid/drug and alcohol abuse.

The pandemic made it clear that good jobs, along with the economy in general, have an

influence on health outcomes across a population. There were significant job losses during the
pandemic. Some jobs were lost for good; other jobs were lost due to businesses adopting new

ways to operate. These alterations in operation caused obvious changes in the work environment,

which in turn caused work conditions to become more stressful for those employed. Those who

have been unemployed for periods longer than six months are more at risk of becoming more

physically and mentally unwell. Although there are many catalysts for depression to emerge,

research suggests that depression among the unemployed is nearly 3 times higher than those who

are employed due to the loss of social contact and income. And most astonishing is that there has

been a link found between unemployment and rising mortality rates.

It is staggering to think how just one aspect of a person’s life, their employment status,

can have such an overwhelming effect on his/her life as a whole. I am hoping that in bringing

this information to light, businesses and governments will begin to recognize unemployment as

the community health problem that it is and produce policies to improve the trends. It is

imperative that something be done in order to start to improve the physical, mental, and

emotional health of individuals and their communities.

Sincerely,

Michele Smith, Youngstown State University Nursing Student