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This paper aims to investigate changes in psychological well‐being over time for individuals who experienced a career disruption in the form of a company closing, and to examine the relationships between employability, well‐being, and job satisfaction. It seeks to expand on previous work of job loss relative to the long‐term impact of the experience and on Fugate et al.'s psycho‐social conceptualization of employability.

Data were collected at the time of job loss (T1) and six years later (T2). The 73 respondents at T2 represent a stratified random sample of the T1 respondents. Hypotheses were tested with paired sample t‐tests and hierarchical multiple regression.

Results indicate that the negative psychological impact of job loss diminishes over time. Additionally, employability predicted well‐being and job satisfaction.

The results of the study provide guidance for the design and administration of outplacement and related programs that focus on increasing employability and psychological well‐being, and suggest ways that individuals can shield themselves from the negative consequences associated with a job loss.

The results have policy implications for the design of government funded outplacement and retraining programs.

The paper is the first to examine job loss over a six‐year period of time, and the first to examine the impact of employability attributes on multiple indicators of well‐being and on job satisfaction in the job loss context.

Employment rates fell dramatically between March and April 2020 as the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic reverberated through the US labor market. This paper uses data from the CPS Basic Monthly Files to document that the employment decline was particularly severe for immigrants. Historically, immigrant men are more likely to work than native men. The pandemic-related labor market shock eliminated the immigrant employment advantage. After this initial precipitous drop, however, the employment recovery through June 2021 was much stronger for immigrants, and particularly for undocumented immigrants. The steep drop in immigrant employment at the start of the pandemic occurred partly because immigrants were less likely to work in jobs that could be performed remotely and suffered disproportionate employment losses as only workers with remotable skills were able to continue working from home. The stronger employment recovery of undocumented immigrants, relative to that experienced by natives or legal immigrants, is mostly explained by the fact that undocumented workers were not eligible for the generous unemployment insurance (UI) benefits offered to workers during the pandemic.

We estimate the effects of job insecurity on the mental health of older workers in the United States. To address endogeneity problems, we exploit panel data and plausibly exogenous changes in job loss expectations following eliminations of similar positions and other types of jobs at the worker’s employer, as well as changes in employment at the industry–state level. We provide evidence that job insecurity, as measured by the self-reported probability of job loss, increases stress at work and the risk of clinical depression. We also find that the use of instrumental variables increases the size of the estimated effects. We interpret this as evidence that job insecurity which is outside the control of workers may have much larger effects on mental health. Our findings suggest that employers should worry about the mental health of workers in periods of downsizing, periods which are crucial for the recovery of firms in financial difficulties and which may depend particularly on the productivity of its workers.

Using matched data from the 1996 to 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS), we examine racial patterns in annual transitions into and out of health insurance coverage. We first decompose racial differences in static health insurance coverage rates into group differences in transition rates into and out of health insurance coverage. The low rate of health insurance coverage among African-Americans is due almost entirely to higher annual rates of losing health insurance than whites. Among the uninsured, African-Americans have similar rates of gaining health insurance in the following year as whites. Estimates from the matched CPS also indicate that the lower rate of health insurance coverage among Asians is almost entirely accounted for by a relatively high rate of losing health insurance. In contrast to these findings, differences in health insurance coverage between Latinos and whites are due to group differences in both the rate of health insurance loss and gain. Using logit regression estimates, we also calculate nonlinear decompositions for the racial gaps in health insurance loss and gain. We find that two main factors are responsible for differences in health insurance loss between working-age whites and minorities: job loss and education level. Higher rates of job loss account for 30 percent of the health insurance gap for African-Americans and Asians, and 16 percent of the health insurance gap for Latinos. Lower levels of education explain roughly 15 percent of the gap for African-Americans and Latinos (Asians' higher levels of education serve to close the gap). Higher rates of welfare and SSI participation among African-Americans also serve to widen the gap in health insurance loss by 8 percent.

I examine changes in the incidence and consequences of job loss between 1981 and 2001 using data from the Displaced Workers Surveys (DWS) from 1984 to 2002. The overall rate of job loss has a strong counter-cyclical component, but the job-loss rate was higher than might have been expected during the mid-1990’s given the strong labor market during that period. While the job-loss rate of more-educated workers increased, less-educated workers continue to have the highest rates of job loss overall. Displaced workers have a substantially reduced probability of employment and an increased probability of part-time employment subsequent to job loss. The more educated have higher post-displacement employment rates and are more likely to be employed full-time. The probabilities of employment and full-time employment among those reemployed subsequent to job loss increased substantially in the late 1990s, suggesting that the strong labor market eased the transition of displaced workers. Reemployment rates dropped sharply in the recession of 2001. Those re-employed, even full-time and regardless of education level, suffer significant earnings declines relative to what they earned before they were displaced. Additionally, foregone earnings growth (the growth in earnings that would have occurred had the workers not been displaced), is an important part of the cost of job loss for re-employed full-time job losers. There is no evidence of a decline during the tight labor market of the 1990s in the earnings loss of displaced workers who were reemployed full-time. In fact, earnings losses of displaced workers have been increasing since the mid 1990s.

Parental job loss has been shown to have a negative impact on a large number of children's outcomes, in particular for low-income children. Given the amount of time freed up by loss of employment and the fact that active time with one's children appears to be a productive input in their human capital production function, increases in the time parents spend with their children have the potential to positively impact a child or to counteract other negative consequences of parental job loss. This chapter studies how low- and higher-income parents change their time investment in their children when faced with job loss. Using national time-diary data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) linked to longitudinal labor market data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), I find that parents spend almost 15% of the time freed up by job loss – roughly 3.5 additional hours per week – actively with their children. Low-income parents invest their freed-up time no differently from higher-income parents. While mothers who lose their job respond by spending more time actively with their children, this adjustment is much smaller for fathers. This suggests that differential adjustments in time investment may play a role in the impact maternal versus paternal job loss has on children's outcomes.

Living a nutritious lifestyle requires that people get a sufficient amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals every day. Healthy dietary practices are related to a stronger immune system, better prevention and easier recovery from illnesses, lower blood pressure, healthy weight, lower risk of diabetes, heart problems and other medical conditions and improved overall well-being (WHO, 2020). Therefore, to maintain a strong immune system able to prevent diseases and ease recovery, optimal nutrition and healthy habits are of increased importance during a pandemic such as Covid-19. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 22 million Americans have lost a job between February and October 2020, increasing the unemployment rate from 3.5% in February 2020 to 6.9% in October 2020, reaching a peak of 14.7% in April 2020. Job losses during the Covid-19 crisis are likely to put lots of families at risk of malnutrition and food insufficiency and to further deteriorate the already existing food insecurity (Gundersen et al., 2018). This research explores the effect of a recent job loss between August and October 2020 on food sufficiency.

This research examines the impact of a job loss on nutrition and food safety. Specifically, this study explores the effect of a job loss during the Covid-19 pandemic on the level of family and child food sufficiency as perceived by the respondent, confidence about meeting family’s dietary needs in the four weeks following the interview, and an indicator of whether the food sufficiency status of the family has deteriorated or not. This study also determines the differential effect of a job loss by individuals who are still employed despite the loss relative to workers who remained unemployed after a job loss during the Covid-19 crisis. Subsample analyses based on ethnicities, genders and educational attainment are also performed to identify the most vulnerable groups.

The results provide evidence that a job loss is associated with a highly statistically significant deterioration of food sufficiency for families and children and a reduction in the confidence in food security for the near future. This effect is observed for all job losers, but from them, it is larger for the ones who are currently unemployed compared to those who are working. The association between a job loss and family’s nutrition insecurity is the greatest for Hispanic, males and people with some college. Children’s nutrition suffers the most for children whose parents have not completed high school. These results provide an insight into the adverse effect of Covid-19 on food security.

From a policy perspective, the results indicate that federal nutrition programs whose goal is to ensure that the dietary needs of Americans, and especially children, are met, which are most likely to benefit the Hispanic population, individuals with low educational attainment and individuals who remained unemployed after losing a job.

This study makes several contributions to the growing literature on food security. First, this study is novel in that it examines the effect of an ongoing event, specifically a labor market disruption as a result of a health and economic crisis, on families’ nutrition, and does so using the newest publicly available data designed to track the impact of Covid-19 on the American population. This is one of the first studies that investigates the forementioned impacts in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study further contributes to the literature by distinguishing between employed versus unemployed individuals despite a job loss and by studying distinct groups on the population. In addition, this study compares the effects of interest in the onset of the pandemic to a year later to examine the population’s adjustment to the crisis. The importance and relevance of the results for policy decision-making are also discussed in the paper.

This exploratory study aims to examine the usefulness of distinguishing between the cognitive and emotional components of job insecurity.

This cross‐sectional survey study was undertaken in a sample of 600 civil servants. A series of regressions are employed to test proposed hypotheses.

Results support the treatment of the components of job insecurity as separate variables. The cognitive and emotional components differed in their associations with predictors and consequences. Locus of control and employment dependence moderated several relationships. For example, employment dependence moderated the relationship between job insecurity and job loss strain.

The study design was cross‐sectional and, thus, cause‐effect relationships cannot be discerned. Also, since it was undertaken in the public sector, it needs to be cross‐validated in the private sector so that the generalizability of its results can be established. The study points to the utility of separately measuring the components of job insecurity in future research. Also, the role of employment dependence deserves further study given its role as a predictor of job loss strain and as a significant moderator variable.

In supporting the treatment of job security and job loss strain as separate variables, this study suggests that one should consider how to reduce the negative effects of a lack of job security on job loss strain. This is especially important since job loss strain is associated with negative psychological and physiological symptoms. In today's rapidly changing environment, people who feel they have limited extra‐organizational opportunities appear to be particularly vulnerable. Human resource management practices that enhance employee mobility may help to manage their sense of dependence.

This paper addresses two major gaps in the job security literature: it develops a comprehensive model using a two‐component approach to job insecurity; and investigates the potential role of employment dependence as both a cause of insecurity's components and a moderator in the causes → insecurity → consequences model.

The primary purpose of this article is to raise awareness about the need for additional research on job loss. It also aims to provide an introduction to the special issue, and a description of the articles in it.

The article highlights some of the important research on job loss since the early 1990s.

Additional theory and research is needed to assist the well‐being and the job search process of the unemployed.

This article offers suggestions on advancing new research ideas that can be used to assist individuals who have lost their jobs and to organizations that have been involved in a layoff.

The article argues that knowledge related to the effects of job loss can be used to assist organizations in promoting programs to enhance the well‐being of laid‐off individuals.

Research on job loss is needed to address the problems of laid‐off individuals.

The article provides a contribution to the social issues literature as it raises awareness of the need for additional research on job loss.

Data from the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation are linked to longitudinal records from the Social Security Administration to examine the relationship between the long-term unemployment that prime-aged (ages 25–55) male workers experienced around the time of the 1980–1982 twin recessions with earnings, receipt of either Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income (DI-SSI) benefits, and mortality. Separate estimations are made for those who voluntarily and involuntarily left employment and the combined sample of these two groups. We find that 20 years later, long-term joblessness was associated with significantly lower earnings and higher likelihoods of the receipt of DI-SSI benefits as well as mortality.