Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-rkzlw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-25T11:20:07.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Social Consequences of High Unemployment*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Catherine Hakim
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Forecasts suggest that unemployment will remain above 2 million in Britain for the best part of the 1980s. The social consequences of protracted high levels of unemployment are explored. The evidence comes from four types of source: cross-sectional surveys of (unemployed) individuals; longitudinal and cohort studies; aggregrate time series; and area-based studies. The advantages and limitations of each are identified. The available evidence on the consequences of unemployment for poverty; health and mortality; mental health; crime and delinquency; and the social fabric is reviewed. The implications for policy and public expenditure are explored.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , October 1982 , pp. 433 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Atkinson, A. B. and Fleming, J. S. (1978), ‘Unemployment, social security and incentives’, Midland Bank Review, autumn 1978, 6–16.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. B. and Micklewright, J. (1980), ‘Unemployment benefit and the FES sample 1972–77’, Unemployment Project Working Note No. 2, London School of Economics, London.Google Scholar
Barber, A. (1980), ‘Ethnic origin and the labour force’, Employment Gazette, 88:8, 841–8.Google Scholar
Barber, A. (1981), Labour Force Information from the National Dwelling and Housing Survey, Research Paper no. 17, Department of Employment, London.Google Scholar
Barron, I. and Curnow, R. (1978), The Future of Information Technology, Report to the Computers, Systems and Electronic Requirements Board, Department of Industry, London.Google Scholar
Berk, R. A., Lenihan, K. J. and Rossi, P. H. (1980), ‘Crime and poverty: some experimental evidence from ex-offenders’, American Sociological Review, 45:5, 766–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumstein, A. and Cohen, J. (1979), ‘Estimation of individual crime rates from arrest records’, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 70:4, 561–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, J. (1981), ‘The myth of social class and criminality reconsidered’, American Sociological Review, 46:1, 36–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, M. E. (1978), ‘Patterns of mortality and the alienation of life: a study using census indicators’ in Armytage, W. H. G. and Peel, J. (eds), Perimeters of Social Repair, Academic Press, London, pp. 73–9.Google Scholar
Brennan, M. E. and Stoten, B. (1976), ‘Children, poverty and illness’, New Society, 36:716, 681–2.Google Scholar
Brennan, M. E. and Lancashire, R. (1978), ‘Association of childhood mortality with housing status and unemployment’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 32:1, 28–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brenner, M. H. (1979), ‘Mortality and the national economy’, The Lancet, 15 09 1979, 568–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, D. and Singh, K. (1972), ‘Does unemployment breed racism?’, Race Today, 4:7, 226–7.Google Scholar
Burr, M. L. and Sweetnam, P. M. (1980), ‘Family size and paternal unemployment in relation to myocardial infarction’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 34, 93–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr-Hill, R. A. and Stern, N. H. (1979), Crime, The Police and Criminal Statistics, Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Clark, M. (1978), ‘The unemployed on Supplementary Benefit’, Journal of Social Policy, 7:4, 385–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, L. E. et al. (1980), ‘Property crime rates in the United States: a macrodynamic analysis 1947–1977’, American Journal of Sociology, 86:1, 90–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colledge, M. and Bartholomew, R. (1980), ‘The long-term unemployed: some new evidence’, Employment Gazette, 88:1, 9–12.Google Scholar
Crick, B. (ed.) (1981), Unemployment, Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Cummings, S. (1980), ‘White ethnics, racial prejudice and labour market segmentation’, American Journal of Sociology, 85:4, 938–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniel, W. W. (1974), A National Survey of the Unemployed, Political and Economic Planning, London.Google Scholar
Daniel, W. W. (1981a), ‘Why is high unemployment still somehow acceptable?’, New Society, 55:957. 495–7.Google Scholar
Daniel, W. W. (1981b), The Unemployed Flow, Stage 1 Interim Report, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Daniel, W. W. and Stilgoe, E. (1977), Where Are They Now? A Follow-up Study of the Unemployed, Political and Economic Planning, London.Google Scholar
Danziger, S., Haveman, R. and Plotnick, R. (1980), ‘Retrenchment or reorientation: options for income support policy’, Public Policy, 28:4, 473–90.Google Scholar
Davies, B. et al. (1982), ‘Incomes in and out of work’, Employment Gazette, 90:6, 237–43.Google Scholar
Deacon, A. (1978), ‘The scrounging controversy: public attitudes towards the unemployed in contemporary Britain’, Social and Economic Administration, 12:2, 121–36.Google Scholar
Department of Employment (1978), ‘Statistics of long-term unemployment’, Department of Employment Gazette, 86:6, 676–81.Google Scholar
Department of Employment (1981), ‘Labour force outlook to 1986’, Employment Gazette, 89:4, 167–73.Google Scholar
Donnison, D. (1981), ‘The emergence of an issue’, New Society, 55:949, 153–4.Google Scholar
Dooley, D. and Catalano, R. (1980), ‘Economic change as a cause of behavioural disorder’, Psychological Bulletin, 87:3, 450–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, M., O'Brien, M. and Biebuyck, T. (1981), Single and Homeless, HMSO for the DOE, London.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, P. and Lazarsfeld, P. T. (1938), ‘The psychological effects of unemployment’, Psychological Bulletin, 35:6, 358–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, G. H. Jr (1974), Children of the Great Depression, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.Google Scholar
Employment Think Tank (1980), Unemployment: A New Approach for the 80s, Federation of Personnel Services, London.Google Scholar
Fagin, L. H. (1979), ‘The experience of unemployment’, New Universities Quarterly, winter 1979. 49–74.Google Scholar
Fagin, L. H. (1981), Unemployment and Health in Families, Department of Health and Social Security, London.Google Scholar
Ferman, L. A. and Gordus, J. P. (1979), Mental Health and the Economy, W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, Michigan.Google Scholar
Fiegehan, G. C., Lansley, P. S. and Smith, A. D. (1977), Poverty and Progress in Britain 1953–73, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Field, S. et al. (1981), Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Home Office Research Study No. 68, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Finifter, B. M. (1975), ‘Replication and extension of social research through secondary analysis’, Social Science Information, 14:2, 119–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleisher, B. M. (1963), ‘The effect of unemployment on juvenile delinquency’, Journal of Political Economy, 71, 543–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleisher, B. M. (1966), The Economics of Delinquency, Quadrangle, Chicago.Google Scholar
Forster, D. P. (1976), ‘Social class differences in sickness and general practitioner consultations’, Health Trends, 8:2, 29–32.Google Scholar
Forster, D. P. (1979), ‘The relationship between health needs, socio-environmental indices, general practitioner resources, and utilisation’ Journal of Chronic Diseases, 32, 333–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fryer, J. G. et al. (1979), ‘Comparing the early mortality rates of Local Authorities in England and Wales’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, series A, 142:2, 181–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, M. J. et al. (1969), ‘Patterns of mortality in middle and early old age in the county boroughs of England and Wales’, British Journal of Preventative and Social Medicine, 23, 133–40.Google ScholarPubMed
Garraty, J. A. (1978), Unemployment in History: Economic Thought and Public Policy, Harper and Row, New York.Google Scholar
Gibbs, J. P. (1966), ‘Crime, unemployment and status integration’, British Journal of Criminology, 6:1, 49–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gladstone, F. (1979), ‘Crime and the crystal ball’, Home Office Research Bulletin, No. 7, 36–41.Google Scholar
Glazer, D. and Rice, A. (1959), ‘Crime, age and unemployment’, American Sociological Review, 24:5, 679–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gravelle, H. S. E., Hutchison, G. and Stern, J. (1981), ‘Mortality and unemployment: a cautionary note’, Discussion paper No. 95, Centre for Labour Economics, London School of Economics, London.Google Scholar
Hakim, C. (1979), Occupational Segregation, Research Paper No. 9, Department of Employment, London.Google Scholar
Hakim, C. (1980), ‘Social aspects of employment: data for policy research’, Journal of Social Policy, 9:1, 77–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hakim, C. (1981), ‘Job segregation: trends in the 1970s’, Employment Gazette, 89:12, 521–9.Google Scholar
Hakim, C. and Hawes, W. R. (1982), Labour Force Statistics, Course D291: Statistical Sources, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.Google Scholar
Harrison, R. (1976), ‘The demoralising experience of prolonged unemployment’, Department of Employment Gazette, 84:2, 339–48.Google Scholar
Hartley, J. F. (1980), ‘The impact of unemployment on the self-esteem of managers’, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53, 147–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hepworth, S. J. (1980), ‘Moderating factors of the psychological impact of unemployment’, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53, 139–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, J. M. M. (1977), ‘The social and psychological impact of unemployment’ Tavistock Institute of Human Relations research report to the MSC.Google Scholar
Hindelang, M. J., Hirschi, T. and Weiss, J. G. (1979), ‘Correlates of delinquency: the illusion of discrepancy between self-report and official measures’, American Sociological Review, 44:6, 995–1014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschi, T. (1969), Causes of Delinquency, University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Home, R. L. and Picard, R. S. (1979), ‘Psychosocial risk facton for lung cancer’, Psychosomatic Medicine, 41:7, 503–14.Google Scholar
Jenkins, C. and Sherman, B. (1979), The Collapse of Work, Eyre Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Kelvin, P. (1980), ‘The social psychological bases and implications of structural unemployment’, in Gilmour, R. and Duck, S. (eds) The Development of Social Psychology, Academic Press, London, pp. 293–316.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C. and Cleary, P. D. (1980), ‘Social class and psychological distress’, American Sociological Review, 45:3. 463–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lancaster, T. (1979), ‘Econometric methods for the duration of unemployment’, Econometrica, 47:4, 939–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layard, R., Piachaud, D. and Stewart, M. (1978), The Causes of Poverty, Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth Background Paper No. 5, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Le, J. Grand (1978), ‘The distribution of public expenditure: the case of health care’, Economica, 45:178, 125–42.Google Scholar
Le, J. Grand (1982), The Strategy of Equality, Allen and Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Little, A. and Kohler, D. (1979), ‘Research and action in race relations’, Home Office Research Bulletin, No. 8, pp. 31–4.Google Scholar
Manpower Services Commission (1981) Manpower Review, Manpower Services Commission, London.Google Scholar
Mayhew, K. and Rosewell, B. (1979), ‘Immigrants and occupational crowding in Great Britain’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 40:3, 223–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moylan, S. and Davies, B. (1980), ‘The disadvantages of the unemployed’, Employment Gazette, 88:8, 830–2.Google Scholar
Moylan, S. and Davies, B. (1981), ‘The flexibility of the unemployed’, Employment Gazette, 89:1, 29–33.Google Scholar
National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) (1981), Submission to the House of Lords Committee on Unemployment, NACRO, London.Google Scholar
National Federation of Claimants Unions (1979), The Supplementary Benefit Counter Review, East London Claimants Union, London.Google Scholar
Nickell, S. (1979a), ‘The effect of unemployment and related benefits on the duration of unemployment’, Economic Journal, 89:353, 34–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickell, S. (1979b), ‘Estimating the probability of leaving unemployment’, Econometrica, 47:5, 1249–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickell, S. (1979c), ‘The Determinants of Occupational Success in Britain’, Centre for Labour Economics Discussion Paper No. 65, London School of Economics, London.Google Scholar
Norris, G. M. (1978), ‘Unemployment, subemployment and personal characteristics’, Sociological Review, 26:1, 89–108.and 26:2, 327–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office of Health Economics (1981), Suicide and Deliberate Self-Harm, OHE, London.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) (1973), Cohort Studies: New Developments, Studies on Medical and Population Subjects No. 25, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) (1981) General Household Survey 1979, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Phillips, L., Votey, H. L. and Maxwell, D. (1972), ‘Crime, youth and the labour market’, Journal of Political Economy, 80:3, 491–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsden, S. and Smee, C. (1981), ‘The health of unemployed men: DHSS cohort study’, Employment Gazette, 89:9, 397–401.Google Scholar
Reid, I. (1977), Social Class Differences in Britain, Open Books, London.Google Scholar
Reiss, A. J. (1976), ‘Settling the frontiers of a pioneer in American criminology: Henry McKay’ in Short, J. F. (ed.) Delinquency, Crime and Society, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, pp. 64–88.Google Scholar
Ritchie, J. and Wilson, P. (1979), Social Security Claimants, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, London.Google Scholar
Rossi, P. H. (1980), ‘The presidential address: the challenge and opportunities of applied social research’, American Sociological Review, 45:6, 889–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott-Samuel, A. (1977), ‘Social area analysis in community medicine’, British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 31, 199–204.Google ScholarPubMed
Showier, B. (1975), ‘Incentives, social security payments and unemployment’, Social and Economic Administration, 9:2, 98–107.Google Scholar
Sinfield, A. (1981a), ‘Unemployment in an unequal society’, in Showier, B. and Sinfield, A. (eds), The Workless State, Martin Robertson, Oxford, pp. 122–66.Google Scholar
Sinfield, A. (1981b), What Unemployment Means, Martin Robertson, Oxford.Google Scholar
Smee, C. H. and Stern, J. (1978), The Unemployed in a Period of High Unemployment, Government Economic Service Working Paper No. 11, Department of Health and Social Security, London.Google Scholar
Smith, D. J. (1980a), ‘Unemployment and racial minority groups’, Employment Gazette, 88:6, 602–6.Google Scholar
Smith, D. J. (1980b), ‘How unemployment makes the poor poorer’, Policy Studies, 1:1, 20–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. J. (1981), Unemployment and Racial Minority Groups, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Smith, G. (1980), ‘Why the fear of unemployment is a two-edged weapon for the Tories’, The Times, 14 11 1980.Google Scholar
Stern, J. (1981), ‘Unemployment and its impact on morbidity and mortality’, Discussion Paper No. 93, Centre for Labour Economics, London School of Economics, London.Google Scholar
Stevens, P. and Willis, C. F. (1979), Race, Crime and Arrests, Home Office Research Study No. 58, HMSO.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J. and Cook, C. (1977), The Slump: Society and Politics during the Depression, Jonathan Cape, London.Google Scholar
Swinburne, P. (1981), ‘The psychological impact of unemployment on managers and professional staff’, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 54:1, 47–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thoits, P. A. (1981), ‘Undesirable life events and psychophysiological distress: a problem of operational confounding’, American Sociological Review, 46:1, 97–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, D. S. (1925), Social Aspects of the Business Cycle, Studies in Economic and Political Science No. 80, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Thornes, B. and Collard, B. (1979), Who Divorces?, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. (1979), Poverty in the United Kingdom, Allen Lane, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Slooten, R. and Coverdale, A. G. (1977), ‘The characteristics of low income households’, Social Trends, No. 8, 26–39.Google Scholar
Wedge, P. and Prosser, H. (1973), Born to Fail?, Arrow, London.Google Scholar
White, M. (forthcoming). Long-term Unemployment, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Yeager, M. G. (1979), ‘Unemployment and imprisonment’ Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 70:4, 586–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar