Towards a social psychology of the labour market: Or why we need to understand the labour market before we can understand unemployment

Abstract

In this paper it is argued that the attention given by psychologists to individuals who happen, at a particular point in time, to be unemployed, has detracted from an understanding of the more widespread and complex ways in which conditions in the labour market affect the psychological health of the population. In focusing on unemployment rather than on other correlates of economic recession the literature has largely ignored the economic and sociological literature on the labour market. Not only has this blinkered researchers to the real nature of the experience of unemployment and the amount of psychological distress that accompanies a reduction in the demand for labour, but it would also have serious repercussions if the psychological literature were to influence government policy towards labour market regulation. It is proposed that the most fruitful way forward for psychological research to go will be to enlarge its sphere of interest, perhaps by adapting the explanatory frameworks developed in the studies of unemployment and psychological well‐being to other labour market phenomena such as job insecurity, promotions and demotions, stagnated careers or thwarted expectations.