When war takes a peaceful life, it leaves behind not only the ruins of houses, but also broken destinies. For many, war means the loss not only of security, but also of work, which was a source of stability and meaning in life. Among the explosions and sirens, another enemy appears – unemployment, which destroys the psyche of those who have already experienced too much. People who are used to working and building the future find themselves in a state of uncertainty, feeling afraid and confused.
How to regain faith in yourself when everything around you is collapsing? How to live on when job loss seems like another blow to an already wounded soul?
Imagine a morning when you no longer have to rush to work. There are no meetings, no tasks, the calendar is empty and the phone is silent. All of us are used to getting annoyed when we are called to perform extra-ordinary duties. So at first the sudden calm may seem like a respite, but day after day the emptiness becomes unbearable. When work is no longer part of your life, the world seems to fall apart. It would seem that this is only a temporary inconvenience, but for millions of people around the world, unemployment turns into a psychological trap that slowly and mercilessly destroys their psyche. Losing a job can be the beginning of a psychological crisis that destroys self-esteem, relationships and faith in the future.
When a person loses his job, he loses not only a stable income, but also a sense of importance. Work is not just a way to earn money, it is part of our identity. It is because of it that we feel our usefulness, our need for society. Without a job, a person may begin to doubt their own worth. Her day is filled with doubts, feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty about the future.
Loneliness is the silence that screams inside every person who has lost their job. After all, a demanding and ruthless society, as a rule, values the active and successful. The unemployed feel as if they are outside the social sphere. They gradually become estranged from friends, family and colleagues, feeling like a burden. It is isolation that destroys their inner world, leaving only emptiness.
Scales of unemployment in numbers
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the State Statistics Service has not released data on the unemployment rate in the country. But thanks to the research agency Info Sapiens, it was is established, that as of August 2024, the unemployment rate in Ukraine reaches 13.9%.
For data According to the Ministry of Finance, the number of officially registered unemployed is 106,700 people (not including the occupied territories of Crimea, Sevastopol and part of Donbas). Of course, the real level of unemployment in Ukraine is much higher in the conditions of economic crisis and instability due to military actions.
The statistics of the youth segment of the labor market remain disappointing. Among the officially registered unemployed, 23% are persons under the age of 35. Of course, losing a job is difficult for everyone. But young people usually have not yet accumulated enough work experience and do not have savings that act as a certain “safety cushion” that helps them survive a period of adversity. And therefore, young people become a particularly vulnerable population group that is negatively affected by unemployment.
As experts note, the transition from education to work is an important stage of a person’s maturation from the point of view of age psychology and for many is a step towards financial independence. As a rule, young people have fewer resources to cope with the consequences of unemployment: they do not yet have professional experience, proper recommendations and acquaintances. Therefore, young people who have fallen under the pressure of unemployment run the risk of not finding a job later in life.
Scientific confirmation of the devastating effects of unemployment
Polish scientists, together with their British colleagues, conducted research and established a direct relationship between the negative impact of long-term unemployment on human health. Dividing the 748 participants of the experiment into three categories depending on the duration of the period of job loss, it was found that long-term unemployment has a direct relationship with the deterioration of well-being and self-esteem and, even, with an increased perception of loss of control over one’s life. The longer the participants could not get a job, the more often they felt fear, depression and other negative emotions. It turned out that long-term unemployment also prevents people from experiencing positive feelings, develops self-removal and apathy, which reduces people’s willingness to fight stress and pursue any personal goals. In addition, unemployment contributes to the emergence of a feeling of learned helplessness. It is noted that a long absence of work reduces a person’s chances of participating in any social and other collective activities, including public protests.
Indeed, almost all studies of the impact of unemployment on the health of the population show that unemployment is harmful to health. There are many parallels between the current economic crisis, rising unemployment and its devastating health effects, both now and in the future.
Scientists explain the connection between unemployment and poor health by two interdependent factors:
- material consequences of unemployment (loss of wages, which leads to changes in access to basic goods and services);
- psychosocial consequences of unemployment (stigma, isolation, loss of self-esteem).
The main effects of unemployment on health can be divided into two categories:
- behavioral related to changes in the personal behavior of the unemployed;
- socio-economic, which depend on the well-being of a person and his social role.
Loss of income leads to a deterioration in living conditions, and therefore stands in the way of investing in one’s own health. A person has limited access to important goods, products that provide full nutrition and to medicines and many medical services.
It is quite natural that the growth of unemployment increases the need to use medical services. However, the level of availability of medical goods and services is not always the same, which depends mainly on the structure of the country’s health care system. The healthcare system in Ukraine still has a lot of institutional, organizational, financial, technical and informational problems. Among the main shortcomings, it is worth highlighting the lack of mandatory medical insurance, which significantly reduces the availability of medical products and services for all citizens, especially the unemployed.
In addition, the quality and diet of the unemployed often decreases, physical activity is reduced, negative forms of deviant behavior may also arise or deepen, in particular the use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc. Statistics show that among the surveyed unemployed, there were significantly more smokers (49.3%) compared to employed (37.4%), as well as those who drink strong alcoholic beverages.
According to researchers, unemployment has a more negative impact on the health of men than women. And mostly it concerns mental health. This can be explained by the fact that women are less vulnerable to unemployment, since it is mostly men who are the main breadwinners in the family. And that’s why women have the expectation that they won’t have to work alone. It is also worth noting that men are more prone to deviant behavior than women.
Age is another factor that plays a role in the impact of unemployment on health. It is logical to assume that unemployment for physiological reasons has less impact on physical health in young people than in people of older (pre-retirement) age. Workers nearing retirement age are generally more likely than others to have health problems and are therefore more vulnerable to the negative effects of unemployment. It may be more difficult for them to find a new job, especially in jobs that require special training in today’s labor market. Employers often write off people of pre-retirement age, not wanting to deal with their retraining and pension registration in the near future. As a result, depending on a person’s age and circumstances, they may experience long periods of unemployment or even be forced into retirement.
The road to depression
Every day of unemployment is not only a financial challenge, but also a constant psychological pressure. The longer this state lasts, the more a person sinks into despair. Studies show that long-term job loss significantly increases the risk of developing depression. Waking up every morning and not having a clear goal is a burden that weighs more than any financial crisis.
The constant guilt of not being able to find a new job is depressing. People begin to feel that their efforts are futile. Every rejection of their CVs, every unsuccessful interview feeds this feeling. Over time comes emotional burnout, the feeling that efforts are in vain and the future is hopeless.
Financial stress is another scary component of unemployment that has a direct impact on the psyche. The constant thought of unpaid bills, loans and the inability to provide for the family sends the brain into constant anxiety mode. As a result, there is an increased level of stress, panic attacks, insomnia and even psychosomatic diseases. Financial instability forces a person to live in constant fear that any day could be the last stable day in his life. Unemployed people often find themselves in a situation where even ordinary shopping seems like a luxury, which leads to a further feeling of humiliation and loss of control over their own lives.
A devastating wave of stress puts the whole family under attack. Constant arguments due to financial difficulties, growing tension in relationships, low self-esteem – all this affects family relationships. Partners often cannot understand each other’s feelings, which leads to emotional disconnection and sometimes divorce. Children especially suffer from troubles in the family. They experience the emotional instability of their parents, live in constant stress due to financial difficulties in the family, which often leads to problems with learning, social adaptation and behavior.
First of all, it is important to realize that losing your job is not your fault. This is a life situation that can happen to anyone. Psychological support, counseling and mutual support groups can be the first steps towards stabilizing the emotional state. Financial difficulties may temporarily break comfort, but should never break a person as a person. It is worth remembering that although work is an important part of our lives, mental health is more important.
Unemployment is a difficult challenge, but it is not a sentence. It should not destroy life and psyche. Acknowledging the problem is the first step to solving it. You should not close yourself behind the heavy door of fears and give yourself into the arms of depression, but look for a way out. After all, he is always there, and even in the darkest moments there is hope for the best. Mental health is our main wealth and it should be protected despite the challenges of fate.
