TY - JOUR

T1 - The social stigma of unemployment: consequences of stigma consciousness on job search attitudes, behaviour and success

AU - Krug, Gerhard

AU - Drasch, Katrin

AU - Jungbauer-Gans, Monika

N1 - Funding information: We thank the guest editor Katrin Auspurg, two anonymous reviewers, Katrin Hohmeyer and Jens Stegmaier for the helpful and constructive comments. Previous versions of the manuscript have also profited from comments by the participants of the Second PASS user conference in Nürnberg and the participants of the Session of the Sektion ‘Sozialpolitik’ at the 2018 DGS Kongress in Göttingen, especially Sigrid Betzelt and Carolin Freier. We also thank Huyen Nguyen Ngoc and Luca Reinold for help with preparing the manuscript.

PY - 2019/7/12

Y1 - 2019/7/12

N2 - Studies show that the unemployed face serious disadvantages in the labour market and that the social stigma of unemployment is one explanation. In this paper, we focus on the unemployed’s expectations of being stigmatized (stigma consciousness) and the consequences of such negative expectations on job search attitudes and behaviour. Using data from the panel study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS), we find that the unemployed with high stigma consciousness suffer from reduced well-being and health. Regarding job search, the stigmatized unemployed are more likely to expect that their chances of re-employment are low, but in contrast, they are more likely to place a high value on becoming re-employed. Instead of becoming discouraged and passive, we find that stigmatized unemployed individuals increase their job search effort compared to other unemployed individuals. However, despite their higher job search effort, the stigma-conscious unemployed do not have better re-employment chances.

AB - Studies show that the unemployed face serious disadvantages in the labour market and that the social stigma of unemployment is one explanation. In this paper, we focus on the unemployed’s expectations of being stigmatized (stigma consciousness) and the consequences of such negative expectations on job search attitudes and behaviour. Using data from the panel study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS), we find that the unemployed with high stigma consciousness suffer from reduced well-being and health. Regarding job search, the stigmatized unemployed are more likely to expect that their chances of re-employment are low, but in contrast, they are more likely to place a high value on becoming re-employed. Instead of becoming discouraged and passive, we find that stigmatized unemployed individuals increase their job search effort compared to other unemployed individuals. However, despite their higher job search effort, the stigma-conscious unemployed do not have better re-employment chances.

KW - Expectancy-value theory

KW - Job search

KW - Social stigma

KW - Stigma consciousness

KW - Unemployment

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068822077&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1186/s12651-019-0261-4

DO - 10.1186/s12651-019-0261-4

M3 - Article

VL - 53

JO - Journal for Labour Market Research

JF - Journal for Labour Market Research

SN - 2510-5027

IS - 1

M1 - 11

ER -