What Are The Effects of Unemployment

The effects of unemployment and joblessness can be felt on a variety of fronts. There are individual, social, and socio-political effects of unemployment.

The most immediate effects of unemployment and joblessness on the individual are that the person is unable to earn enough money to meet their financial obligations. Joblessness can affect an individual's mental health, leading to potentially severe bouts of depression. In addition, personal effects of unemployment can place an individual at heightened risk of malnutrition, illness, mental stress and a loss of self-esteem. These complications can develop even among the most optimistic individuals who experience joblessness.

The social effects of unemployment are that a society with high levels of joblessness is not fully utilizing all the resources at its disposal. The challenge with this consideration lies in the fact that if the fictionally unemployed, meaning highly skilled workers, took the first jobs presented to them the economy would also be operating at less than optimal levels.

In addition, lengthy periods of systemic joblessness can cause workers to lose their skill sets, causing a loss of human capital. One of the more subtle effects of unemployment to develop is xenophobia and protectionism, which can cause obstacles to immigration and tariffs, which may worsen the effects of unemployment. Systemic joblessness may contribute to increases in crime.

The socio-political effects of unemployment are presented as a tenuous connection between joblessness and civil unrest. Systemic joblessness during the Weimar Republic in Germany between the World Wars is said to have played a role in the rise of the Nazi party, although the role of joblessness is disputed.

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