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Unemployment and Well-Being of Europeans Across the Life Cycle: The Role of Countries’ Macroeconomic Situation

Author

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  • Gintare Malisauskaite

    (University of Kent)

  • Olena Nizalova

    (University of Kent
    University of Kent
    University of Kent)

  • Despoina Xanthopoulou

    (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

Abstract

Unemployment impairs individuals’ well-being and health and there is some empirical evidence showing that macroeconomic conditions can moderate these effects. This paper goes a step further and investigates differences in how macroeconomic indicators of European countries’ economic situation relate to individual subjective health and well-being, and also moderate the relationship between individual labour market exclusion and these outcomes across age groups: young individuals (aged 15–29), prime working age adults (aged 30–49, base category) and pre-retirement age adults (aged 50–64). We used two different macroeconomic indicators to define macroeconomic situation: country-level unemployment rate and gross domestic product (GDP). Both indicators were disaggregated into long-term economic trend and business cycle shocks using Hodrick–Prescott filtering to allow distinguishing between expected and unexpected change in macroeconomic circumstances. We used the European Social Survey individual-level data from 35 European countries for 2002–2014. Multi-level analysis with three levels were run for men and women separately. Results revealed differences in how individual-level unemployment related to well-being depending on the age group, with pre-retirement age group adults’ health and well-being suffering the most. Also, macroeconomic indicators were found to moderate the relationship between individual-level unemployment and subjective health and well-being with some noticeable differences between age groups, and with GDP trend having the most sizeable influence.

Suggested Citation

  • Gintare Malisauskaite & Olena Nizalova & Despoina Xanthopoulou, 2022. "Unemployment and Well-Being of Europeans Across the Life Cycle: The Role of Countries’ Macroeconomic Situation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1387-1412, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:162:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-022-02892-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-022-02892-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Blázquez, Maite & Moro-Egido, Ana I., 2023. "The impact of financial insecurity on self-reported health: Europe in cross-national perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1123-1137.

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