The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on different facets of the well-being of employed and unemployed workers - an interdisciplinary study based on real-time data

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Michael Eid; Professor Dr. Ronnie Schöb; Professorin Dr. Gesine Stephan
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 327867807

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

In the project „German Job Search Panel” (GJSP), German job seekers were surveyed monthly between 2017 and 2021 regarding their well-being by means of a smartphone app. In addition, a subgroup submitted quarterly hair samples for the measurement of hair cortisol concentration (HCC) as a biomarker for stress load. The collected data facilitated the detailed study of the effects of entering unemployment on subjective well-being and health. In April 2021, the project was extended in order to study the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in these processes. The results show that life and income satisfaction decreased significantly after job loss. However, no immediate effects were found on other well-being facets. Furthermore, there seemed to be no short-term adaptation of well-being after entering unemployment. Re-employment expectations during unemployment were of central importance. Re-employment expectations were crucial, with low expectations leading to stronger decreases in life satisfaction. Furthermore, individual resources (such as eudaimonic well-being or proactive coping strategies) did not buffer the effects of unemployment on various well-being facets. HCC was highest on the first occasion of measurement, that is, while participants were still employed but already knew they could soon lose their jobs. People with low re-employment expectations displayed stronger HCC increases than people with high re-employment expectations. These results suggest that it is not unemployment per se that affects the physiological stress system, but above all job insecurity that is associated with increased cortisol release. In addition, changes in various well-being facets did not predict later changes in HCC levels. In regard to the pandemic, the data shows that employees’ mental health worsened during the first and the second lockdown. Overall, the effects of the pandemic on different population groups were very homogeneous. However, decreases in well-being were more substantial for people in short-term employment than for other groups. Unemployed people were not affected particularly strongly by the pandemic: when there were differences, compared to people in employment, unemployed people reported higher well-being during the pandemic than before. Finally, a methodological experiment on the basis of randomized assignment showed that on average, study participation did not affect the participants’ future employment trajectories.

Publications

• The German Job Search Panel. Center for Open Science.
  Hetschko, Clemens; Schmidtke, Julia; Eid, Michael; Lawes, Mario; Schöb, Ronnie & Stephan, Gesine
  
• Contact Modes and Participation in App-Based Smartphone Surveys: Evidence From a Large-Scale Experiment. Social Science Computer Review, 40(5), 1076-1092.
  Lawes, Mario; Hetschko, Clemens; Sakshaug, Joseph W. & Grießemer, Stephan
  
• Unemployment and hair cortisol as a biomarker of chronic stress. Scientific Reports, 12(1).
  Lawes, Mario; Hetschko, Clemens; Schöb, Ronnie; Stephan, Gesine & Eid, Michael
  
• Cortisolmessungen zeigen: Nicht unbedingt Arbeitslosigkeit, sondern vor allem berufliche Unsicherheit führt zu erhöhtem chronischem Stress, In: IAB-Forum 15. Dezember 2023
  Keitel, Christiane
  
• Das „German Job Search Panel“: Die Effekte von Arbeitslosigkeit und Covid19 auf das Wohlbefinden (IAB-Forschungsbericht).
  Stephan, G., Hetschko, C., Schmidtke, J., Lawes, M., Eid, M. & Schöb, R.
  
• Does Worker Well‐Being Adapt to a Pandemic? An Event Study Based on High‐Frequency Panel Data. Review of Income and Wealth, 70(3), 840-861.
  Schmidtke, Julia; Hetschko, Clemens; Schöb, Ronnie; Stephan, Gesine; Eid, Michael & Lawes, Mario
  
• The German Job Search Panel 2.0: The Pandemic Cohort. Center for Open Science.
  Schmidtke, Julia; Hetschko, Clemens; Eid, Michael; Lawes, Mario; Schöb, Ronnie & Stephan, Gesine
  
• The impact of unemployment on cognitive, affective, and eudaimonic well-being facets: Investigating immediate effects and short-term adaptation.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124(3), 659-681.
  Lawes, Mario; Hetschko, Clemens; Schöb, Ronnie; Stephan, Gesine & Eid, Michael
  
• Arbeitslosigkeit und chronischer Stress: Was können wir aus Haarproben lernen? In-Mind Blog.
  Lawes, M.
  
• Collecting hair samples in online panel surveys: Participation rates, selective participation, and effects on attrition. Survey Research Methods, 18(2), 167–185.
  Lawes, M., Hetschko, C., Sakshaug, J. W. & Eid, M.
  
• Examining interindividual differences in unemployment-related changes in subjective well-being: The role of psychological well-being and re-employment expectations. European Journal of Personality, 39(1), 24-45.
  Lawes, Mario; Hetschko, Clemens; Schöb, Ronnie; Stephan, Gesine & Eid, Michael
  
• Feeling observed? A field experiment on the effects of intense survey participation on job seekers’ labor market outcomes. IZA Discussion Paper, 17347.
  Stephan, G., Hetschko, C., Schmidtke, J., Eid, M. & Lawes, M.
  
• Longitudinal associations between well‐being, hair cortisol, and self‐reported health. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 17(1).
  Lawes, Mario & Eid, Michael