Have you ever wondered how it affects that you are jobless? A recent study conducted by Alan Krueger of Princeton University and Andreas Mueller of Stockholm University, for the Brookings Institution showed the negative effects of the long term unemployment. The results of the study are not encouraging at all.

Even lately, more jobs started to appear and the layoffs are not so often as they used to be, for those whohaven’t worked for a long period of time, things are not likely to improve. The study shows that the longer is the period of unemployment for a person, the less likely for that person is to find a job.

The study was based on interviews conducted on a group of 6.000 people, all of them being unemployed workers. They were interviewed weekly, for 24 weeks between late 2009 and early 2010. Here’s what the researchers found out:
-The more distant is the period when you had a job, the less is the time you spend looking for a new one. The authors call this effect “noteworthy” and they use an example to illustrate it: somebody who is unemployed for 12 weeks will spend around a half an hour daily looking for a new job.
-People are motivated to look for a job, when their unemployment benefits are almost to expire. As long as they have this benefits, they are not encouraged to find a job.
-The most important discovery in this study, was the psychological effect of the unemployment period. People often express much “dissatisfaction and unhappiness with their lives” and things are getting worse if their search for a job is unsuccessful. Also the authors mentioned that jobless people tend to sleep more in order to compensate the lack of activity.
    Even the future doesn’t look promising when it comes to people who are currently out of work, it is recommended to stay positive.

Use your time for doing things you like, concentrate on your hobbies, spend time with family and friends and do not stop looking for a job, because you don’t want to minimize your chances of working.