Normalizing Unemployment: A New Way to Cope with Unemployment?

ABSTRACT

Although the literature suggests that the massive unemployment statistics of the last decade have resulted in changes in the way people view unemployment, no study to date has precisely identified this phenomenon and its effects on individuals. This study brings to light the connection between these new perceptions of and experiences with unemployment and health. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, we developed and validated the Unemployment Normalization Questionnaire and correlated it with health. Thus, 938 unemployed people from two economic contexts (France and Luxembourg) completed both the Unemployment Normalization Questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire. This study confirmed the existence of the psychological concept of unemployment normalization among actual job seekers and its relation to perceived well-being.

Acknowledgments

Agence pour le développement de l’emploi (ADEM Luxembourg) and Pôle emploi (France) for their assistance with this research, and Steve Thill who help us with the data collection.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Fund, Luxembourg, under Grant number C13/SC/5885577 (UnemployNorm).