Research on unemployment has paid only little attention to drinking an
d drinking problems. From the 1970s onwards the association of drinkin
g and unemployment has come under systematic study. Contrasting tenden
cies emerge from this research. This paper distinguishes three instanc
es of drinking and drinking problems and examines their association wi
th employment status, i.e., (i) frequency of drinking, (ii) frequency
of intoxication, and (iii) frequency of health problems due to drinkin
g. A panel survey was conducted in 1983-1984, consisting of a sample o
f Finnish men and women, originally jobseekers in industry. Prevalence
data and results of logistic regression analyses on the association o
f the three instances of drinking and drinking problems with employmen
t status are presented. The frequency of drinking was unassociated wit
h employment status for men and women at either of the two measurement
points. Neither did the frequency of intoxication show any clear asso
ciation with employment status. In contrast, the frequency of health p
roblems due to drinking was associated in a statistically significant
way with unemployment among men. Among women the association was rathe
r the opposite, but it was not statistically significant. The paper co
ncludes that it is important to distinguish between overall drinking a
nd drinking problems, and between the determinants of male and female
drinking problems. It is likely that selective processes at the labour
market as well as social causation during unemployment lie behind the
observed association of male unemployment and drinking problems.