IMPACT OF REEMPLOYMENT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED

This article reports results from a two-wave panel study representativ e of long-term unemployed in Norway in 1991-92. We looked especially a t the impact of re-employment on psychological distress. Is any job be tter than unemployment, and does re-employment improve mental health d ramatically? Our findings showed that re-employed people did not have less distress than those still unemployed and outside the labour force when other factors were controlled for. What mattered was that re-emp loyment represented a secure job. High risk of distress was especially persistent among those who experienced financial hardship and marital break-up and who had not had previous psychological distress. Women e xhibited higher distress than men, and older persons higher distress t han younger. To a certain extent, psychological distress was unrelated to the unemployment situation itself, but seemed instead to be due to a selective process ending in long-term unemployment experienced by p ersons with psychological distress at the outset of joblessness. These persons experienced cumulative problems related to poor economic situ ations and marginal positions in the labour-market. Earlier research h as tended to overestimate the emotional damage created by job loss per se and the beneficial effects of re-employment. (C) Scandinavian Soci ological Association 1998.