Unemployment, Social Networks, and Health Inequalities

Abstract

AbstractThe loss of employment is an event that interferes with the lives of everyone affected, causes stress, and can have a negative impact on their health. Meta-analyses show that unemployed people have a worse state of health and a mortality risk that is at least 1.6 times higher than those who are employed. Unemployment is associated with a lower mental and physical health status and, in some cases, with riskier health behavior (particularly tobacco consumption). There are two important theses on the role of social networks in this context: (1) Unemployment changes social networks so that they no longer fulfill their positive function for health (mediator thesis); (2) Unemployment leaves social networks unchanged and persons with resource-rich networks suffer less from health losses due to unemployment (moderator thesis). This article provides an overview of empirical analyses on the topic of networks and unemployment.