Coping with unemployment among journalists and managers

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between occupational background and coping with unemployment in two occupational groups. Longitudinal qualitative data are analysed in a life-story context by classifying types of themes found in the narratives. The study is theoretically rooted in the latent deprivation hypothesis, the agency restriction hypothesis and the theory of social exclusion. Occupational background and identity constituted the key foundations in which the journalists and managers anchored their strategies for coping with the labour market in general and with long-term unemployment in particular. Being able to cope was experienced as supportive and even minor success in the labour market enhanced active behaviour. However, repeated failure was related to deterioration in mental well-being. Institutional support was the most beneficial when it provided the unemployed with tools that enabled them to understand the situation they were facing and the need to consider occupational change.

Keywords

agency coping deprivation exclusion journalist manager unemployment white-collar

Background

The starting point of the analysis is Finland’s deep economic recession in the early 1990s. During this recession the number of unemployed rose from less than 100,000 in 1990 to more than half a million in 1994 and peaked at a rate of 18.4 per cent (Statistics Finland, 1994: 1, 1996). Unlike in earlier economic recessions unemployment penetrated all occupational groups. The number of unemployed far outstripped the number of open vacancies. The monthly average number of open vacancies in 1994 was 7326, for example, whereas the number of unemployed job seekers was 494,248 (Statistics Finland, 1996: 344). There was also a sharp increase in long-term unemployment (Statistics Finland, 1994: 1). Although the recession was relatively short-lived it was exceptionally deep and had far-reaching detrimental economic and social consequences for the unemployed (Kortteinen and Tuomikoski, 1998: 178), but there is no evidence of extended marginalization on a mass scale (Vähätalo, 1998: 158).

The unemployment rate has been under 10 per cent since 1999. In 2011 it was 7.8 per cent and the number of unemployed job seekers was 243,876: at the same time, there were 35,072 open vacancies (Statistics Finland, 2012).

This study makes use of three theoretical approaches developed in earlier unemployment research: the latent deprivation hypothesis (Jahoda, 1982), the agency restriction hypothesis (Fryer and Payne, 1984) and the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998).

The concept of deprivation originally came to light in Marie Jahoda et al.’s (2002 [1933]) classic study of the unemployed in the small Austrian village of Marienthal in the 1930s. According to their findings, unemployment is related to deterioration in social interaction and mental well-being and causes deprivation, not only financial hardship. Jahoda (1982), drawing on the work of Merton (1966 [1949]) and Freud (2002 [1930]), argues that although earning a living is the manifest function of employment, the institution of employment imposes latent functions on employees that contribute to their mental well-being. Losing one’s job typically does not cause absolute deprivation in modern societies with social-security systems and explanations of declining mental well-being relate rather to the loss of the latent functions. These functions relate to aspects of daily experience a paid job provides (1982: 59):

a time structure,

enlarged social contacts,

participation in a collective purpose,

a defined status and identity, and

required regular activity.

Also, according to Jahoda, people value and need these unintended aspects of experiencing employment to maintain their well-being (1998: 318).

Second, David Fryer and Roy Payne’s (1984) agency restriction hypothesis is formulated as a criticism of the latent deprivation hypothesis. The authors investigate unemployment as an interruption in the life course, with an emphasis on poverty as a key corollary of job loss. Consequently, the deterioration in mental well-being emerges from poverty, discontinuity and the loss of control over one’s future. According to this approach, individuals are goal-oriented and proactive actors seeking to manage life in unemployment. Nevertheless, unemployment is restrictive by nature and people may lack the necessary coping resources (Fryer, 1995).

Despite the different emphases in the latent deprivation and the agency restriction hypotheses, the debate between the authors ended in a compromise; both approaches have their place in the research on unemployment (Fryer, 1986). Later on, the latter attracted more support than the former, but both have been used in various studies (Creed and Klisch, 2005; Halvorsen, 1998; Lahelma, 1989; Selenko et al., 2011; Warr, 1987).

The experience of and coping with unemployment are related to the labour market situation, the macro-structure of society and social policies with their filtering mechanisms (Burchell, 1994: 207–9; Vähätalo, 1998), which is theoretically beyond the reach of the agency restriction (Fryer and Payne, 1984) and the latent deprivation (Jahoda, 1982) hypotheses.

This leads to the third approach, Martin Kronauer’s (1998) notion of social exclusion from the labour market, which assigns various combinations of disqualification processes along six dimensions. Unemployment is examined in terms of its potential consequences in increasing the risk of:

exclusion from the labour market,

economic exclusion,

cultural exclusion,

exclusion by social isolation,

spatial exclusion, and

institutional exclusion.

This approach is assumed to be helpful in observing the long-term consequences of unemployment in relation to the macro level of society.

The above tripartite theoretical framework allows examination of unemployment on the individual and societal levels and its distinction as an institution from the wider socio-structural context. The theories are not assumed to cover all phenomena related to unemployment as described in the data: their explanatory power is also explored in relation to the data.

The specific focus of this longitudinal study is on unemployment in two groups of white-collar employees, journalists and upper middle-level managers. The main question is how occupational background, the skills learned during the career and occupational identity relate to unemployment in these two groups. The other research questions concern:

the relationship between economic factors and coping,

the relationship between unemployment, mental well-being and coping,

how change and continuity are described in the longitudinal data, and

the merits and restrictions of the three theoretical approaches in terms of understanding the experience of and coping with unemployment.

The differences between the two groups lie in their ability to use their occupational skills while unemployed on the one hand and in the opportunities available on the labour market on the other. Redundant journalists may engage in freelance work, earning their living in piecemeal portions, whereas managers lack such opportunities and face a greater risk of non-employment, especially in the first stages of unemployment. There has been a permanent freelance market for journalists for decades, which is why journalism has long been perceived as a flexible and modern profession. Among other occupations, including upper middle-level management, traditional forms of employment have been dominant on the labour market. The specific feature of upper middle-level managers is that they have presumably developed their occupational skills in an organization with specific products and production techniques. Occupational differentiation through specialization is another significant feature of labour market development.

Unemployment among journalists and managers was clearly lower than the national average during the recession, but open vacancies were very rare. The unemployment rate of journalists fluctuated from 2.6 per cent in 1990 to 8 per cent in 1993 (SJL, 1994; SSL, 1991), for example, and according to official unemployment statistics there were less than 10 open vacancies a year (private communication: requested data on the vacancies for journalists and managers in 1991–5 provided by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in 2008). The opportunities for freelancing were restricted on account of the economic problems faced by media companies (Tommila and Salokangas, 1998: 301–4).

The basic ways of coping with unemployment include seeking a new job, improving one’s qualifications, living ‘on the dole’, retiring, or coping constructively outside the labour market (Warr and Jackson, 1987).

Data and methods

The original data were collected in 1993 during the deepest recession in Finland’s history. The data were derived from an essay writing competition arranged by the Folklore Archives of Finland in which unemployed people were invited to write their narratives. The entire data set consists of almost 1200 personal narratives. The entries from journalists and upper middle-level managers were extracted from the data (N=34), yielding 15 and 19 narratives, respectively.

The Finnish national economy began to recover in 1995, and the labour market gradually began to function normally. In this context the possible long-term impact of unemployment is a relevant topic. The interval between 1993 and 1995 exceeds the definition of long-term unemployment (Santamäki-Vuori, 1996: 18).

The participants were followed up in 1995. First, in collaboration with the Folklore Archives, the participants were asked to narrate a follow-up to their original narrative; 31 individuals agreed do so in writing (N=16) or in an interview (N=15). Second, the follow-up participants were sent a questionnaire to which 31 responded. The aim was to elicit information about their activities in the labour market, their education and their economic situation. The narrative data amount to 2000 typed text pages.

A second follow-up was conducted in 2011. Questionnaires were sent to 28 participants and 22 responded (79%). The questionnaire items focused specifically on two issues:

the life situation of the respondents in relation to the labour market; and

whether unemployment as experienced in the 1990s is described in relation to the current life situation or as a transitory stage.

Table 1 lists the participants, their demographic features and information on the data. Significantly, most of the respondents had had long careers based on permanent employment before becoming unemployed. The younger respondents also had work experience and described their future target as to work as a journalist or in a white-collar job.

Table 1.

The research group by occupation or occupational orientation, gender, age, education, family type, years participating in the data collection and identification number.

Occupation/Orientation	Gender	Age	Education	Family type	Data collected	Identification number
Journalist	Female	21–25	Secondary	Single	1993, 1995, 2011	18
Journalist	Female	26–30	Primary	Married	1993, 1995, 2011	19
Journalist	Female	31–35	Tertiary	Cohabiting	1993, 1995	20
Journalist	Female	36–40	Tertiary	Single parent	1993	1
Journalist	Female	41–45	Tertiary*	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	2
Journalist	Female	41–45	Tertiary	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	3
Journalist	Female	41–45	Not known	Single	1993	4
Journalist	Female	46–50	Secondary	Married, parent	1993, 1995	5
Journalist	Female	51–55	Tertiary*	Single	1993, 1995, 2011	6
Journalist	Female	56–60	Secondary	Single	1993, 1995, 2011	21
Journalist	Female	56–60	Tertiary	Married	1993, 1995, 2011	22
Journalist	Male	31–35	Tertiary*	Single	1993, 1995	23
Journalist	Male	31–35	Secondary	Single	1993, 1995	24
Journalist	Male	36–40	Tertiary*	Single	1993, 1995	7
Journalist	Male	51–55	Tertiary*	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	8
Manager	Female	21–25	Secondary	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	28
Manager	Female	26–30	Secondary	Married	1993, 1995	29
Manager	Female	31–35	Secondary	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	30
Manager	Female	36–40	Secondary	Single parent	1993, 1995, 2011	9
Manager	Female	41–45	Tertiary	Single parent	1993, 1995, 2011	10
Manager	Female	51–55	Tertiary	Cohabiting	1993, 1995, 2011	11
Manager	Female	51–55	Tertiary	Married	1993, 1995, 2011	12
Manager	Female	56–60	Tertiary	Single	1993	25
Manager	Male	21–25	Secondary	Single	1993, 1995	31
Manager	Male	26–30	Tertiary*	Married, parent	1993, 1995	32
Manager	Male	26–30	Secondary	Cohabiting	1993, 1995, 2011	34
Manager	Male	31–35	Secondary	Single	1993, 1995, 2011	33
Manager	Male	41–45	Secondary	Single parent	1993, 1995, 2011	13
Manager	Male	46–50	Tertiary	Single	1993, 1995	14
Manager	Male	46–50	Tertiary	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	15
Manager	Male	51–55	Primary	Married	1993, 1995, 2011	16
Manager	Male	51–55	Primary	Married, parent	1993, 1995, 2011	17
Manager	Male	56–60	Primary	Married	1993, 1995, 2011	26
Manager	Male	61–65	Primary	Married	1993, 1995, 2011	27

Education not completed.

The idea behind the life-story method applied in this study (Bertaux and Kohli, 1984) is to find regularity and to understand the described activities (Tesch, 1995). This is complemented with observations of frequency and described coping patterns (Kortteinen and Tuomikoski, 1998: 21–2) and of variation and exceptions (Dey, 1995: 47). The analytical method and the classification of themes are based on these premises. The three main themes are derived from the theoretical context and the data and partly from the pilot study exploiting only the data collected in 1993:

labour market activities,

mental well-being, latent deprivation, agency restriction and societal filtering mechanisms, and

coping.

The work community, the type of lay-off, occupational identity, economic factors and interaction in the family are observed under these main themes. The comparability of the data over time is based on the narrative subjects of the study group.

Occupational background and identity are measured and classified using the respondents’ subjective descriptions of occupational self-definition, attachment to work and careers and desired future work. Occupational background and identity are integrated into the theoretical context via the latent deprivation hypothesis (Jahoda, 1982). Likewise, changes in mental well-being are measured temporally using the respondents’ subjective descriptions. Mental well-being and its development as described by each participant covers time at work before unemployment, which is used to form a baseline measure of mental well-being on the individual level. Thereafter it is possible to explore the changes over time in relation to the social and economic context within each narrative. Mental well-being is comparable on the individual level between the participants and the two occupational groups.

The tools of text analysis (Sulkunen and Törrönen, 1997) helped to enhance understanding of the individual intentions in the narratives among the participants. Intentions such as those concerning societal equity were registered so as not to affect the authors’ interpretations.

The data have limitations. The sample is not representative of journalists, upper middle-level managers, white-collar unemployment or unemployment in Finland. The aim is not to attribute cause and effect, nor to formulate generalizations, as in quantitative research. The outcomes are to be understood, first, in terms of the relationships revealed in the analysis and second, as assumptions concerning the relationships between unemployment and coping. This report derives from a broader project (Raito, 2012).

Results

Occupational background and coping with unemployment

The main result of the study was that occupational background, skills learned during the career and occupational identity constituted the foundations on which journalists and managers on the group level based their divergent choices and strategies for coping with the labour market in general and with long-term unemployment in particular. The strong long-term relationship between occupational background and coping with unemployment was a novel finding. This study has demonstrated a process that goes on for years and even for decades.

Journalists sought to generate income in their own profession as freelancers or in fixed-term employment. They continued to trust their ability to formulate interesting topics and to create professional news and articles for selected audiences. The managers’ coping strategies, on the other hand, were primarily based on finding a full-time job with management responsibilities and improving qualifications by means of further education. The managers continued to trust their problem-solving and organizational skills and their conscientious and self-denying work attitude. Some managers also tried to make a living as entrepreneurs, based on know-how accumulated during their careers. The respective coping behaviour was related to specific features in each occupational group. In both occupational groups these features seemed to prevail since before the start of the respective career, to have influenced the choice of career and to have developed during the course of it. The possibility of changing occupation was considered only if there were no evident opportunities to earn a living as a journalist or to find a white-collar job. When occupational re-orientation was mentioned the dominant feature was withdrawal to one’s own occupation in the face of setbacks on the new occupational route. The future goal was to achieve a similar position and status as a journalist or a manager as enjoyed before unemployment struck:

Writing is the only thing that is left and is still vivid. One day it will provide a living and this is my only target, vision, meaning of life […] The downside in my profession is that the work has to be finished first, after which it may or may not be accepted and I have to accept this. (Male journalist, no. 24)

I am somehow proud of the career I created as a ‘self-made man’ who, although not without the help of supporters, was able to work on the same level as people with a higher education. I have experienced so much in my area of work that I cannot measure it all in terms of money, or trade it or forget it. (Male manager, no. 16)

The quotes exemplify saturated features and repeated relationships that emerged from the analysis. The two above describe coping behaviours that were based on perceived strengths, learned skills and occupational identity. Unemployment was an interruption in the career causing instability and discontinuity in the life course, according to the agency restriction hypothesis (Fryer and Payne, 1984). Occupational re-orientation was considered a more risky coping strategy in such an unstable life situation than relying on existing qualifications and expertise.

Losing a job was described as being more severely detrimental to mental well-being for managers than for journalists, particularly among the men. The managers mentioned how new achievement potential was severely restricted. As far as the journalists were concerned the worst thing about the job loss was the shrinking of their occupational network. They were also questioned about their expertise, but they still identified themselves as professionals. They did not feel that their occupational identities had been compromised. The managers, on the other hand, experienced the loss of occupational identity and status as severe challenges.

Alongside agency restriction (Fryer and Payne, 1984) the latent deprivation hypothesis (Jahoda, 1982) was useful in examining differences between reactions among journalists and managers. The journalists emphasized the extensive social contacts that the creative and relatively independent work role gave them. The managers emphasized participation in a collective purpose and the possibility of promoting organizational goals. The labour market dimension in the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998) turned out to be an open category, which was filled on the individual level and specified through the analysis of the data in which the other two approaches were used.

The spiral of being active and passive

In terms of the patterns of coping behaviour and in comparison with previous studies on unemployment, in general the unemployed journalists and managers did not describe themselves as either active or passive. The type of adaptation fluctuated, during prolonged unemployment of up to four years, from purposeful activity on the labour market to resignation due to repeated failure to find a new job or to obtain work as a freelancer. After repeated failure to earn a living the type of adaptation tended to shift to despair and inactivity (Jahoda et al., 2002 [1933]: 53; Warr and Jackson, 1987). Despair as such was not the final outcome, however, because even modest labour market opportunities were related to activity and success was related to an improvement in mental well-being. The spiral of success enhanced purposeful activity and future employment plans, but it was not the final result of the coping process, either. The respondents were challenged time and again in trying to earn a living and to cope on the labour market during the recession.

There was variation between active and passive moments in the coping process, particularly among the journalists. The opportunity to work as freelancers allowed them to earn a modest living and gave them a relative advantage on the route back to full employment, compared with the managers. However, although the possibility still remained, after repeated failure they experienced a similar decline in mental well-being to that of the managers, who after being laid off fell, as expected, into a state of non-employment. The next quote describes the spiral of repeated setbacks on the labour market:

I could no longer stand the employers’ rejections, that we are not interested in your stories. I just left it alone and at the same time I knew I was probably letting my network fall apart. (Male journalist, no. 8)

The freelance market for journalists was already improving in 1995 after the worst of the recession and there was more chance of selling work story by story. The journalists described this as a positive future prospect that was related to active efforts on the labour market:

Although there has not been much work to do, it is vital for your self-esteem to be really visible in a trade like this; and it is good to be in a profession in which it is possible to work as a freelancer. When you are fired from a paper mill you cannot set up a factory of your own. (Male journalist, no. 7)

The participants, as quoted above, were facing a dilemma: freelancing or fixed-term employment supported their occupational identity, but did not change their status from being unemployed to being a wage earner (Jahoda, 1982). They were unable to make a living by working and had to rely on unemployment benefit. Nonetheless it is worth noting that even small successes in the labour market were related in both occupational groups to breaking the spell of unemployment, which in turn enhanced mental well-being and active coping behaviour. On the other hand, recurrent negative responses from employers undermined the coping strategies, an effect which was further related to impairment in mental well-being and agency restriction.

Coping with unemployment should not be understood within a strictly diverged typology that classifies unemployed individuals as being at a high or a low risk of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998). Coping is better understood as a sustained process in which active and passive moments fluctuate in relation to the opportunities and restrictions in the environment. The findings support the idea that observing opportunities, even if modest in nature, helped people to cope with unemployment and to survive it. Constructive strategies (Warr and Jackson, 1987) were also apparent, but they were few and were reactions to the difficult situation in the labour market.

A specific finding was that the hope of eventually coping successfully persisted irrespective of how realistic the chances of improvement in the labour market situation were. Thus, inactivity was not necessarily a sign of despair and was equally likely to indicate specific coping behaviours by means of which unemployed individuals took some time out from the harshness of the labour market. At the same time they actively nurtured their mental well-being and functioning, which were important resources for future coping in changing labour market conditions. These strategies could be considered examples of proactive behaviour (Fryer and Payne, 1984), even without actively seeking a new job.

Unemployment benefit as a filtering mechanism

The household economy and changes in it due to job loss was one of the most extensively described themes among the participants. Earlier studies report an association between economic factors and mental well-being (Laaksonen et al., 2009; Paul and Moser, 2009). This study supported those findings, its contribution being to give specific insights into the societal filtering mechanisms and the process of coping with unemployment. In this context the occupational groups did not differ substantially: the main variation was within them.

The first insight concerns the formation of the experience of unemployment in relation to economic filtering mechanisms in the Finnish context. A distinct difference between higher-level earnings-related unemployment benefit and the lower basic unemployment allowance emerged. The basic unemployment allowance in Finland in 1995 was equivalent to €426 per month in 2009, whereas the average income of the participants on earnings-related unemployment benefit was roughly €1,000 per month. Even living on earnings-related benefit was described as an involuntary life situation leading to substantial cuts in household spending. Mental well-being deteriorated and the situation could be interpreted as one of relative deprivation. On the other hand, living on the basic unemployment allowance was described in terms of absolute deprivation, as the next quote illustrates:

Living on the dole on 116 marks a day [€24.29 in 2009] is more than difficult […] at least that is how I feel when I am hungry and lie awake for hours at night so the next day I am no longer responsible for my actions. (Female manager, no. 25)

According to the agency restriction hypothesis (Fryer and Payne, 1984), the experience of unemployment cannot be understood without knowing the loss of income arising from it. Without exception, the discontinuity caused by unemployment was defined in the narratives in terms of the relative change in financial situation and the absolute level of material resources available for everyday living. The safety net provided by the Finnish welfare state did not completely prevent experiences of absolute deprivation among the unemployed.

The second insight derives from the Finnish unemployment allowance system. The right to receive earnings-related unemployment benefit lasts for 500 days. During the recession it was quite common to extend the payment period by participating in labour market promotion measures, which in practice meant spending a six-month period in subsidized employment or further training.

The payment period of 500 days structured life in unemployment. The participants reported being increasingly worried towards the end of the period about having to rely on the low-level basic unemployment benefit thereby implying a deepened experience of relative deprivation. Further challenges included the potential collapse of the household economy and the subsequent risk of absolute deprivation. Successful extension of the payment period was, in turn, related to sustained mental well-being. Life was experienced as bearable and relatively secure for another 500 days. In this sense the mental well-being of the participants was in accordance with the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998), closely related to the filtering mechanisms of the social-security system:

There is the constant fear of losing the earnings-related unemployment allowance, how would we manage then? The answer is always the same, we would not. I am glad we have not faced that situation yet […] but our life has been nothing except counting the days. (Female manager, no. 30)

The threat of losing unemployment benefit or other types of social-security allowance was a common theme, exemplified as in the above quote. Worries were partly related to interaction with the administrators of the system and the threat of sanctions if the formal rules were not followed.

The above insights were significant in characterizing the relationships between economic sanctions and coping behaviours among the participants. The risk of collapse in the household economy was related to active functioning, but the motivation to prevent such a risk from materializing was imposed from the outside and was loaded with negative emotions, including anxiety, restlessness and growing fatigue if the problem was prolonged. The risk of a collapsing household economy was related to a decline in mental well-being up to the point at which it became difficult to cope. There was also the risk of such a decline and a loss of functioning if the economic risk materialized. Coping was likely to become more difficult to control given the more fragile life situation in the face of emerging economic strains. One possible consequence was to drive the individual to function outside of the labour market, thus weakening his or her willingness to act as a member of society and strengthening resistance to the societal system. It was a grass-roots indication of how society’s institutional filtering mechanisms may paradoxically increase the risk of social exclusion among the unemployed. Nevertheless, unemployment in itself did not lead to marginalization, but increased the risk of marginalization and disqualification in the dimensions presented in the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998).

The results of this study support the idea that the experience of unemployment and coping with it are partly patterned in accordance with the structures and filtering mechanisms of society. The findings also suggest that adequate unemployment benefits support continuous activity in the labour market rather than increase the risk of passivity (Fryer and Payne, 1984). The latent deprivation hypothesis (Jahoda, 1982) did not lead to new findings in this part of the analysis because it bypasses the economic factors.

Specific relationships between unemployment and mental well-being

The declining mental well-being identified among the unemployed in this study supported the results of previous studies on the relationships among unemployment, mental well-being and coping, including population surveys (Warr, 1987: 232). The decline was steep at the beginning of the unemployment period, levelled off after approximately six months and remained on a lower level than when in employment. An improvement was also observed in the case of re-employment (Iversen and Sabroe, 1988; Lahelma, 1989). However, two specific insights could be added to the overall picture. First, the next quote describes a common reaction to the lay-off notification:

There are not words to describe the mental turmoil I felt at that moment. One strong pillar of my life had been employment outside home and now it collapsed in the blink of an eye. With it collapsed many smaller pillars, some of them completely, some to the midpoint. My mind was nothing but chaos […] everything culminated in one word and one word only – unemployed. (Female journalist, no. 5)

For the participant quoted above the knowledge of forthcoming unemployment shattered her equilibrium and everyday life, but there were differences in mental consequences among other participants in relation to the type of lay-off and the social mechanisms for implementing it. The deepest shock reaction and decline in mental well-being seemed to be when an individual or a small group of employees were made redundant, whereas a collective lay-off tended to be less of a shock. This difference could be interpreted in terms of the absence of social segregation and the negative classification of being unemployed in the case of a collective lay-off, whereas the social segregation was sharp and permanent when the redundancy targeted an individual or a small group of employees. The key mechanism behind the social segregation of the unemployed was the negative assessment of their occupational expertise they described experiencing at the workplace. They could not avoid the question of whether they were less qualified than those who kept their jobs. Although they resisted this kind of thinking, they received no assurances that they were skilled employees. They described this solitary position in the work community as undermining their occupational identity and mental well-being. The difference in mental well-being between collective lay-off and both small-group and individual dismissal in relation to occupational identity was a novel finding.

Adding to the social segregation, a feeling of unfairness with regard to the lay-off was experienced especially in the case of individual dismissal. The job loss was taken more personally and the experience of being targeted as a person substantially undermined mental well-being, as in the following case:

I could not sleep […] or eat […] because I was so distressed. My body was overreacting and my energy was consumed in an attempt to alleviate the horrible anguish I felt. Only knowledge that the panic would ease off kept me alive and after a few days it loosened its grip. I felt exhausted and empty […] My mind was like a ruined battleground. (Female journalist, no. 4)

It is worth considering the social interaction at the workplace before unemployment set in. According to the findings of this study, social segregation, or disqualification in the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998), had its roots in the lay-off process, which was related to mental well-being and the ability to cope with unemployment.

Second, mental well-being was not necessarily re-established after re-employment. Alongside the insecurity of a new job (Halvorsen, 1998) there seemed to be a relationship between flexible labour market action and lowered mental well-being. Working outside the home region, a long commuting distance or a lower salary seemed to lead to a situation in which the economic and social benefits of re-employment did not meet the expectations of the re-employed. As a result, their mental well-being remained on a lower level than before they became unemployed, as the next quote shows:

I am absolutely agonized about how little money there is to use after all the hard work I have done. There actually is not any left after the necessary expenditure on food, accommodation, transportation and clothing. There goes my salary and there is nothing left for the children. (Male manager, no. 15)

The above quotation is indicative of the fact that the experience of meaningful re-employment does not improve mental well-being if the economic situation remains unfavourable. It also shows how the latent deprivation (Jahoda, 1982) and the agency restriction (Fryer and Payne, 1984) hypotheses could be used in combination to complement the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998).

The long shadow of unemployment

The strength of the data lay in its longitudinal nature, which made the examination of change, continuity and the long-term effects of job loss possible.

It was revealed in the follow-up to 2011 that the overall life situation among the participants after 18 years was in many ways related to their past unemployment. The most significant continuums concerned the labour market, the household economy and social interaction. This finding differed from those reported in previous Finnish unemployment studies conducted before the 1990s and based on quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data (Lahelma, 1989; Rostila, 1982).

First, the subjective mental well-being of the unemployed was re-established after re-employment (Lahelma, 1989) and second, unemployment after re-employment was reported as more of a transitory stage than a turning point in life (Rostila, 1982).

The difference between this study and its reference points relates to the labour market situation. In the 1980s the re-employed usually found new permanent employment, which was not the case in the 1990s. After baseline unemployment in the early 1990s only a few participants had been successful in finding a new permanent job, or any other means of earning a living that compared favourably with what they had before becoming unemployed. The rule, with minor exceptions, was an unstable position in the labour market, long-term unemployment until retirement, continuous difficulties finding work as a freelancer and fluctuating between short-term employment and unemployment.

Another significant feature was the low activity in building a new career or learning new skills. Only three female managers among the 22 respondents referred to occupational re-orientation. Otherwise the participants reported how they had tried to build a career based on their expertise and occupational identity before becoming unemployed in the early 1990s. The overall picture was surprisingly similar to how they described their activities in the labour market in 1993 and 1995. The occupational groups still differed from each other because of the unchanged occupational identities. Second, on the macro level the downgrading of a job would have included the risk of a lower income level than earnings-related unemployment benefit would provide, which the participants wished to avoid. Additionally, the unemployment administrators in Finland could have penalized unemployed job seekers, if after a six-month period of occupational immunity they refused a job offer, but such sanctions are quite rarely used.

The principal financial consequence of unemployment was reported as a cut in income, which was significant but understandable. On the other hand, descriptions of how the realization of lay-off related to mental well-being in the long run and of how the experience of lacking support from the authorities connected to the current life situation, opens up new perspectives on the manifestation of the long shadow of unemployment among individuals, as the following quotes illustrate:

At the start of my unemployment I was deeply depressed and ashamed because of my situation […] for sure it took 10 years to get mentally free from the yoke of getting fired. That time at work still sometimes comes back to me in my dreams. (Male manager, no. 26)

If I had had even just a little more support, I may have realized that it was possible to move on to a new occupation and to re-educate myself […] but a human being keeps running in circles and may not see all of the alternatives and opportunities available. A little help from others can be extremely important. (Female manager, no. 10)

The above quotes exemplify the need to distinguish between specific events and prolonged recurrent situations in the understanding of unemployment. The sharp decline in mental well-being to a level at which functioning deteriorates severely could be a consequence of a single situation. However a gentler decline tends to relate to cumulative and prolonged occupational, social and economic hardship, which in this study was observed in the light of the three theoretical approaches.

According to the analysis, the key mechanism for successfully coping with unemployment was continuous agency, but persistent attempts to cope could also result in never-ending efforts to penetrate the labour market, which in turn could lead to exhaustion and deteriorating mental well-being. The other side of the coin is that employment was experienced as stressful. Symptoms of burnout arose due to strenuous work leading up to unemployment. Thus, becoming unemployed includes the risk of a spiral type of exhaustion, with proactive behaviour speeding up the process. The result could be worse than among the unemployed, who are able to use their time constructively to rest and recover. Although proactive behaviour is likely to facilitate coping with unemployment, it could also complicate interaction and cause anxiety, depression and fatigue over time (Warr, 1994).

Discussion

In terms of exploring the explanatory power of the theoretical approaches, the outcome of this study is that the latent deprivation hypothesis (Jahoda, 1982), the agency restriction hypothesis (Fryer and Payne, 1984) and the theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998) are not complete theoretical structures per se. In fact, they could be seen and used as complementary perspectives providing a broad framework for the examination of unemployment.

The latent deprivation hypothesis (Jahoda, 1982) would seem useful in examining unemployment as an institution and in relation to specific occupations with job-related benefits supporting the mental well-being of employees. However this hypothesis is limited in that it bypasses the economic factors.

The agency restriction hypothesis (Fryer and Payne, 1984) opens up the life-course perspective and facilitates observation of how unemployment affects mental well-being via economic factors, when future plans are jeopardized and the ability to control the environment becomes weaker. The continuum from a weakened household economy to poverty with its dense internal variation is indispensable in terms of understanding the relationship between unemployment and mental well-being. However, the agency restriction hypothesis does not include precise assumptions regarding factors that might restrict life among the unemployed. The focus is rather on individuals, which is why this perspective benefits from being applied to specific labour markets and societal settings affecting the unemployed.

The theory of social exclusion (Kronauer, 1998), with its labour market and societal macro structure, is a useful tool in terms of understanding unemployment as a trail of disqualification carrying the risk of multiple marginalization. Of the three theoretical perspectives used in this study it offers the widest view on unemployment, but it does not sufficiently explain the experience, how it feels and its consequences for coping processes. Shame and stigma as emphasized in the theory made only a small contribution to the deterioration in mental well-being among the participants. Depression, anxiety, frustration, aggression and shock are among the common reactions according to findings within the tradition of unemployment research since the 1930s (Bakke, 1969 [1940]; Jahoda et al., 2002 [1933]). Thus, the theoretical conclusion is that the latent deprivation and agency restriction hypotheses complement the theory of social exclusion. It also seems that these approaches are interconnected. Thus, the explanatory power of agency restriction depends partly on the society’s material and qualitative support policies. Economic deprivation, in turn, is related to the level of unemployment benefits, whereas future plans are related, in part, to the labour market interventions provided, which again are likely to relate to the functions predicted by the latent deprivation hypothesis.

The findings also suggest that the unemployed respondents would have appreciated institutional support in helping to prevent deprivation and to find new work. Suggestions for new labour market interventions based on the experiences and evaluations of the unemployed themselves are therefore justified.

The unemployed in this study aimed at self-contained living through permanent employment, working as freelancers or in a self-employed capacity. Their efforts to cope turned out to be strong. Unemployment destroyed neither this work orientation nor the subjective understanding of independence in determining the course of one’s life. Just being able to cope and even achieving minor success in the labour market were experienced as supportive. However, and in accordance with the agency restriction hypothesis (Fryer and Payne, 1984), unemployment constrained the implementation of the aspiration to cope. Thus the unemployed should be offered opportunities, tools and prospects enabling them to stabilize and improve their life situation. Alternative new careers should be offered, if re-employment in the same career is not possible. Such offers should take into account the individual’s occupational background, identity, orientation and status as an independent actor.

It is not only the coping processes but also the quality of coping that matter. The opportunity to work as a freelance journalist, or for managers to become self-employed, does not provide a macro-level solution to the problem of unemployment unless there is a real possibility to earn a living. The theoretical opportunity to cope can cause underemployment and a poor quality of coping and it may be a threshold for moving into a new occupational field.

The results show how the mental well-being of the unemployed may decline to the level at which the ability to function is paralysed. In such situations active functioning in the labour market requires an improvement in mental well-being. It may be possible to prevent deterioration by assessing the risk factors to which those facing unemployment in the near future are exposed. Such an assessment should immediately follow the lay-off and should be carried out in co-operation with healthcare and labour force professionals.

The results also show how poverty could lead to the re-direction of agency from within the labour market to beyond it. The difference between poverty and bearable financial coping in terms of money available turned out in this study to be relatively narrow. Cost-effective support policies would include preventing the financial situation from declining to the level of poverty.

Unemployment in the current labour market tends to herald a career change (Beck, 1992). First of all, adult employment training is a tool that encourages the unemployed to move to a new occupation. It is also important to help them to perceive their opportunities, restrictions and qualifications as job seekers in relation to the demand for labour. Furthermore, the individual’s ability to control the change is quite often in need of reinforcement. Second, there is a clear need to improve and update employees’ occupational skills while at work and to sustain their learning skills. Third, secondary education should include instruction on how to generate income from several employers at the same time.

Conclusions

This study examined the relationship between occupational background and coping with unemployment among journalists and upper middle-level managers. It used qualitative follow-up data and distinguishes various themes found in the narratives. An advantage of using a limited sample was the longitudinal coverage, in which only two occupational groups were investigated. It appears from the analysis that the aspiration to cope with unemployment is likely to be realized through continuity that is built on occupational background and identity. However, it is not likely to be realized through change unless making the change on the individual level is institutionally supported. Such support should include providing guidance and accurate information about the current situation on the labour market, offering training and economic resources and allowing the unemployed time to make their individual conclusions and decisions.

The participants of this study wished to be re-employed and made efforts to find employment. This supports the idea that the unemployed constitute a bank of labour. The re-employment of educated and skilled professionals is a cost-effective instrument that could help to maintain mental well-being among employees and promote longer working careers.

Footnotes

Funding

The research was financially supported by the Finnish Education Fund (grant #39197M.02) and the Academy of Finland (grant #1257362).

Petteri Raito obtained a PhD in sociology from the University of Helsinki in 2013 with a thesis entitled Toimittajien ja keskijohdon kokemukset ja selviytyminen työttömyydessä 1990-luvun alkupuolen laman aikana. Ammattiryhmiä vertaileva pitkittäistutkimus [Journalists’ and managers’ experiences of and coping with unemployment during the recession in the first half of the 1990s in Finland. A longitudinal comparative study of two occupational groups].

Eero Lahelma obtained his PhD in sociology from the University of Helsinki in 1989 with a thesis entitled Unemployment and Mental Well-Being. He is Emeritus Professor of Medical Sociology and Head of Helsinki Health Study at the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki. His research focuses on the social determinants of health.

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