Labor force behavior of alcoholics: a review

This paper reviews research which has examined the labor force behavior and occupational stability of alcoholics. It is noted that early research portrayed alcoholics as occupationally unstable but was based on biased samples of alcoholic psychotics and arrested public inebriates. A second wave of research on the broader alcoholic population proclaimed them to be occupationally stable despite very high rates of unemployment. A final wave of research returned to the view that alcoholics were occupationally unstable but made its findings applicable to the entire spectrum of the alcoholic population.