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Unhappiness and job finding

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  • Gielen, Anne
  • van Ours, Jan C

Abstract

It is puzzling that people feel quite unhappy when they become unemployed, while at the same time active labor market policies are needed to bring unemployed back to work more quickly. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigate whether there is indeed such a puzzle. First, we find that nearly half of the unemployed do not experience a drop in happiness, which might explain why at least some workers need to be activated. In addition to that, we find that even though unemployed who experience a drop in happiness search more actively for a job, it does not speed up their job finding. Apparently, there is no link between unhappiness and the speed of job finding. Hence, there is no contradiction between unemployed being unhappy and the need for activation policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Gielen, Anne & van Ours, Jan C, 2012. "Unhappiness and job finding," CEPR Discussion Papers 8842, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8842
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rowena Pecchenino, 2014. "The Economic Consequences of Despair," Economics, Finance and Accounting Department Working Paper Series n254-14.pdf, Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    2. Lídia Farré & Francesco Fasani & Hannes Mueller, 2018. "Feeling useless: the effect of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-34, December.
    3. repec:eee:joepsy:v:72:y:2019:i:c:p:1-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:spr:jhappi:v:19:y:2018:i:8:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9928-0 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Krause-Pilatus, Annabelle, 2014. "Happiness and Work," IZA Discussion Papers 8435, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Clemens Hetschko, 2016. "On the misery of losing self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 461-478, August.
    7. repec:spr:qualqt:v:52:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s11135-017-0479-6 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2015. "Unemployment impacts differently on the extremes of the distribution of a comprehensive well-being measure," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(8), pages 619-627, May.
    9. Adrian Chadi & Clemens Hetschko, 2017. "Income or Leisure? On the Hidden Benefits of (Un-) Employment," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201706, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    10. Martin Binder, 2015. "Do it with joy: Subjective well-being outcomes of working in non-profit organizations," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2015-03, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    11. Krause, Annabelle, 2013. "Don’t worry, be happy? Happiness and reemployment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-20.
    12. Binder, Martin, 2016. "“…Do it with joy!” – Subjective well-being outcomes of working in non-profit organizations," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 64-84.
    13. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Christian Krekel & George Ward, 2019. "Employee Wellbeing, Productivity and Firm Performance," CEP Discussion Papers dp1605, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Happiness; Unemployment duration;

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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