UNEMPLOYED YOUTH
UNEMPLOYED YOUTH can be harmed for life
The more unemployment and temporary employment in your youth, the worse is your mental health later in life.
Youth unemployment therefore must be seen as a health issue, researchers state.
“These experiences become engraved both in your soul and in your body and do not disappear regardless of if
you get a job eventually. This is very serious,” says a study by the National Health Research Institute.
To show the long-term effects of youth unemployment, the study has followed one group of people who graduated
ninth grade in 1981 and one graduating in 1989. It has taken measurements of sleeplessness, depression and
anxiety when they were in their twenties and in their forties.
High unemployment between the ages of 21 and 25 led to increased likelihood of mental illness in middle age.
Because there are more unemployed people during recession, the negative effects on society are larger following
periods of recession.
“Of course, it also negatively affects health to be unemployed later in life. But youth unemployment is a
serious national health problem since the effects it has are long lasting. If something should be prioritised,
it is youth unemployment,” says the study.
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