Das „German Job Search Panel“: Die Effekte von Arbeitslosigkeit und Covid19 auf das Wohlbefinden

"A large number of studies analyze the effects of unemployment on well-being (for an overview, see e.g. Suppa 2021). However, these are usually not based on high-frequency data and mostly only collect data on selected dimensions of well-being. As part of a DFG-funded project, the "German Job Search Panel" (GJSP) invited registered jobseekers to take part in a monthly survey about their well-being from 2017 to 2021. The survey was conducted using an innovative smartphone app. Participants were also invited to send in hair samples to measure the cortisol concentration in their hair, which is an established biomarker for the stress levels. On this basis, it is possible to examine in a very differentiated way how critical life events - as unemployment entry - affect well-being. The target group for the survey comprised of people who initially registered as job seekers. A central goal of the project was to investigate the effects of entering unemployment on the various facets of well-being. Only a portion of individuals who register as job seekers actually become unemployed. This provides a natural comparison group for individuals who become unemployed. It is especially true for individuals who have been affected by mass layoffs and plant closures, as the likelihood of job loss depends primarily on external factors and less strongly on characteristics of these individuals. In total, almost 1,900 people initially took part in a first cohort and almost 1,000 people in a second cohort of the GJSP. Two method reports describe the data collection procedures in detail (Hetschko et al. 2022, Schmidtke et al. 2023). Among other things, the GJSP makes it possible to examine the immediate effects of entering unemployment among individuals previously registered as looking for work. As the findings of a first subproject (Lawes et al. 2023) show, unemployment had immediate negative effects on satisfaction with household income. For individuals who registered as job seekers due to mass layoffs, life satisfaction also declined immediately when entering unemployment. In contrast, when individuals became unemployed for other reasons, satisfaction with leisure increased upon entry into unemployment, and life satisfaction declined only as time progressed. In contrast, other dimensions of well-being did not significantly change with the onset of unemployment. By repeatedly measuring hair cortisol, another subproject (Lawes et al. 2022) examined for the first time how job search affects a biomarker of chronic stress. Cortisol levels were highest shortly after job search notification - a time of high uncertainty about the future employment career. Subsequently, hair cortisol decreased - regardless of whether individuals actually became unemployed. In addition, individuals who had already been unemployed for a longer period of time had higher hair cortisol concentrations when they assessed their chances of re-employment as poor instead of good. Thus, physical stress is triggered by unemployment only when people assume that their reemployment opportunities are low. Finally, Schmidtke et al. (2023) showed in another subproject that the Covid19 pandemic had only mild and transitory effects on overall life satisfaction. In contrast, respondents' mental health was more severely affected. In particular, this is evident for people in short-time work. However, certain adaptation effects were evident: the second wave had a smaller impact on life satisfaction and mental health than the first wave." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))