Employment Commitment and Psychological Well-being among Unemployed Men and Women

Abstract

This paper studies employment commitment and psychological well-being among a random sample of 3,500 unemployed men and women in Sweden. The study observes which factors govern levels of employment commitment and if there are any significant differences between unemployed men and women in this respect. The article also discusses the importance of commitment to employment when analysing psychological well-being among the unemployed. As regards employment commitment among both men and women, the results emphasize the psychosocial value of the former job, the activity level while unemployed and age. However, the results also indicate that age and family situation affect unemployed women's and men's levels of commitment to paid employment in different ways. Further, both unemployed men and women who are strongly motivated to find employment for non-financial reasons have significantly higher risks of poor mental well-being than those with lower commitments to employment. Finally, The results speak against the hypothesis that the high unemployment rates among certain categories of people are mainly a result of low motivation to be employed.