The mental health burden of the economic crisis in Europe: the role of job insecurity and displaced workers
Background The recent economic crisis is characterized by rising unemployment. Especially the group of displaced workers has increased, as many Europeans have lost their job due to plant or business closures. Additionally, long-term employment in the same job has already become relatively rare, whil...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Conference Object |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/6922572 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-6922572 |
| Summary: | Background The recent economic crisis is characterized by rising unemployment. Especially the group of displaced workers has increased, as many Europeans have lost their job due to plant or business closures. Additionally, long-term employment in the same job has already become relatively rare, while temporary or contract-based job opportunities and more flexible use of labor are increasing. The latter changes, combined with rising unemployment rates, have led to a heightened sense of job insecurity. Concerns have been raised about mental health problems and care use, as research has related job insecurity and unemployment to worse mental health and a greater use of health care services and psychotropic drugs. The impact of this economic crisis differs from country to country. With the exception of Ireland and Iceland, the biggest tremors in Europe have been felt in the Southern countries. Differences in the strength of the crisis have also been observed within countries, as reflected in the large variance in regional unemployment rates. Most research to date has focused on the comparison process of being unemployed in the context of a high or low level of unemployment, while rarely on the cause of unemployment. However, based on the social norm theory, being unemployed because of a workplace closure can also be experienced in a different way to being unemployed under other circumstances, such as being laid off due to personal reasons. The former–the displaced workers–are characterized by a structural cause for the displacement. This kind of unemployment can be considered as exogenous to the individual. It can be perceived as a structural and social problem rather than an individual issue, given that the unemployed person will not be the only one in that situation and they might compare themselves with colleagues who also lost their job. As a result, their unemployment may be perceived less as a personal failure and affect the worker less in terms of self-blame and self-esteem, which may have consequences for ... |
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