[Unemployment, job insecurity and the need for psychosocial support]

For many concerned people unemployment leads to impairments of health, and above all, mental impairments. However, appropriate interventional measures are utilized by only few unemployed people. This study addresses the question, what need for professional psychosocial counselling exists depending on unemployment experience and job insecurity.

387 young adults (54.4% female) with a mean age of 33.2 years were asked in 2006 in the context of the 20th wave of the Saxony Longitudinal Study (Sächsische Längsschnittstudie) about unemployment experience, perceived job insecurity and the subjective need for professional psychosocial counselling. Furthermore, the global psychological distress was assessed as an indicator for the objective need for psychosocial support.

Over 70% of the participants have had experience with unemployment so far. On average women are unemployed for longer periods than men. Current unemployment [Odds Ratio 7.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.28-15.54] proves to be, apart from the threat of loosing of one's job (Odds Ratio 5.26; 95% CI 3.34-8.28), the strongest predictor for mental burdens. However, the subjective need for psychosocial counselling is independent of these employment-related characteristics. 12.7% of the respondents claimed to have had a need for counselling in the last year. Significant predictors for professional counselling support are sex (Odds Ratio 2.08; 95% CI 1.23-3.55) and the mental burdens (Odds Ratio 2.84; 95% CI 1.50-5.38).

Unemployment leads to objective mental burdens for the concerned people, but subjectively not to an increased need for psychosocial support. Therefore, it is necessary to communicate this health risk to the concerned in an appropriate way and to submit appropriate, low-threshold counselling offers.