Unemployment is always a major factor in any labor market. The often-cited unemployment rate represents people who are not currently employed and have been looking for a job for the past 30 days. The current (March 20, 2025) unemployment rate is 4.1 %, representing 7.1 million people. A different figure to consider is the percentage of adults who are not employed, which can include students, retired individuals, homemakers, or people no longer looking for a job. This is the labor force participation rate, which is 62.4 %. In other words, 37.6% of adults are not currently working. The highest unemployment rate in US history was 24.9% in 1933. Since 1948, the average unemployment rate has been 5.6%. If we look at these figures, it is clear that being unemployed is not an unusual experience. Unemployment for most people who are looking for jobs is seldom a permanent condition. The median duration of unemployment is 10.0 weeks.
Consequences of Unemployment
For many, unemployment is one of the most stressful times in one’s life. It raises their risk of mortality by 63%. There are significant increases in suicide, injuries, and accidents, and higher mortality rates among the less educated in this group. Also, losing a job significantly harms how individuals perceive their social integration, life satisfaction, access to financial resources, and mental health. Unemployment is associated with increased use of tobacco and illegal drugs and increased alcohol abuse. We also see decreased lifetime earnings and continued worries about losing their next job. Youth who suffer periods of unemployment have a 13- to 21 percent decrease in earnings by age 41. Depression, insomnia, anxiety, worry, suicide, feelings of helplessness, low self-esteem, malnutrition, cardiovascular conditions (especially heart attacks), alcoholism, increased smoking, and generally poor physical health often accompany unemployment.
Problematic Responses to Unemployment
Although unemployment is objectively a difficult time and comes with many challenges, there are problematic responses that make a difficult situation worse. These include self-criticism, shame, guilt, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, rumination, worry about the future, feeling overwhelmed by emotion, isolation, passivity, poor health habits, overdrinking, and the use of drugs. Even though self-criticism, shame and feelings of helplessness are common responses to being unemployed, some people are better than others at coping with this negative life event.
You can ask yourself if you are responding with any of these problematic “strategies” and if these strategies are making matters worse for you. You have a choice. The good news is that you can use many of the strategies from cognitive behavioral therapy to have a more productive and effective response to cope with this time between jobs. In my next post, I will outline 12 productive strategies that you can start using now that can help you during this time in between jobs.