October 2009

Key findings from “The Anguish of Unemployment”--a report conducted by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey–reveals the economic and personal costs of prolonged joblessness.

This national survey conducted among 1,200 Americans nationwide who have been unemployed and looking for a job in the past 12 months, including 894 who are still jobless. Survey results portray shaken, traumatized people coping with serious financial and psychological effects from an economic downturn of epic proportion.

• Two-thirds of respondents say they are depressed.
• Over half have borrowed money from friends or relatives.
• A quarter have skipped mortgage or rent payments.
• 60% of the recently unemployed lost their jobs suddenly–without advance warning.
• Eight in ten got two week’s notice or less.
• Only 15% received severance.
• None were offered retraining.
• Only 40% of the currently unemployed received unemployment insurance. Most are concerned that the benefits will end before they find a job.
• Only half of the jobless have health benefits.
• More than half think the changes in the economy will be fundamental and lasting.
• Over half of the unemployed have lost their jobs for the first time, while 4 in 10 had held the same job for three or more years.
• Eight in ten say they do not expect that they have much chance of returning to the place they once worked, even though most workers (72%) held what they had thought were permanent jobs.
• More than one in four of those who were unemployed for the first time earned $75,000 or more in their previous job.
• One in four first-time unemployed workers have at least a four-year college degree.
• The personal and family impact on the respondents suggests a mental health epidemic that could have long-lasting effects on people’s willingness to spend, invest, save, and take risks.
• Three-quarters of the still jobless report stress in their daily lives, two-thirds report being depressed, three-fifths feel helpless, and more than half say they’re angry.

According to some economists, it could take at least eight years to get back to 5% unemployment.