Unemployment’s Life-Satisfaction Cost and Loneliness
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In: Journal of Happiness Studies, Vol. 26, No. 6, 102, 08.2025.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Unemployment’s Life-Satisfaction Cost and Loneliness
AU - Friehe, Tim
AU - Pfeifer, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
PY - 2025/8
Y1 - 2025/8
N2 - Unemployment consistently lowers life satisfaction on average, yet the individual impact of job loss varies significantly. The underlying factors driving this heterogeneity remain a subject of ongoing research. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we demonstrate a compelling link between unemployment and loneliness, suggesting that a substantial portion of unemployment’s detrimental impact on life satisfaction can be attributed to the social isolation it induces. This finding is robust across various estimation methods and subsamples. Notably, the indirect effect of unemployment on life satisfaction through loneliness is particularly pronounced among college graduates, while it is less sizable for East Germans. Our results underscore the potential effectiveness of policies aimed at combating loneliness in mitigating the psychological well-being of the unemployed.
AB - Unemployment consistently lowers life satisfaction on average, yet the individual impact of job loss varies significantly. The underlying factors driving this heterogeneity remain a subject of ongoing research. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we demonstrate a compelling link between unemployment and loneliness, suggesting that a substantial portion of unemployment’s detrimental impact on life satisfaction can be attributed to the social isolation it induces. This finding is robust across various estimation methods and subsamples. Notably, the indirect effect of unemployment on life satisfaction through loneliness is particularly pronounced among college graduates, while it is less sizable for East Germans. Our results underscore the potential effectiveness of policies aimed at combating loneliness in mitigating the psychological well-being of the unemployed.
KW - Life satisfaction
KW - Loneliness
KW - Mediation
KW - SOEP
KW - Unemployment
KW - Economics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105011990141&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10902-025-00941-0
DO - 10.1007/s10902-025-00941-0
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:105011990141
VL - 26
JO - Journal of Happiness Studies
JF - Journal of Happiness Studies
SN - 1389-4978
IS - 6
M1 - 102
ER -