The Agony of Unemployment

A recent survey of jobless Americans quantifies the massive psychological trauma inflicted on laid-off employees by the recession -- but the pain comes through most evidently in the comments of the unemployed themselves.

"The lack of income and loss of health benefits hurts greatly, but losing the ability to provide for my wife and myself is killing me emotionally," penned one respondent in the survey, which was conducted by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

"Everything I have built up over the past 15 years of my life is being chipped away," penned another.

"It really gives you a feel for the depth of the emotion and the suffering people are going through," said survey co-author Cliff Zukin, explaining why he included the raw comments in the report.

The numbers are pretty dismal as well: Just 20% of those surveyed think they will acquire a job in the next few months, even less expect to get their previous job back (11%), and the majority say they feel stressed (77%), depressed (68%), helpless (61%), and angry (55%).

The survey finds that 55% of the unemployed say it's their first bout of joblessness in five years, 60% were given no notice at all by their employer, and just 11% think they'll get their former job back.

Zukin said that beyond the collective psychological trauma, the numbers bode badly for the economic impact of the country's employment situation. 63% of respondents have dipped into their savings or retirement funds, 56% have had to borrow from friends or family, and 34% have increased their credit card debt.

-- 75% of respondents are considering a career change.

-- 43% said they had received unemployment benefits from the government in the past year.

-- 53% said they had no healthcare benefits.

Some additional comments:

"Even though age discrimination is illegal, I do believe it puts people off hiring; that is why I took a temporary job on my last job...I've always worked, so this is very depressing. At age 60, I never believed I would be unemployed unless I chose to be."

"My age (59) leaves me feeling worthless, very old, and isolated from the workforce -- with little chance of finding employment."

"Very few employers are willing to hire someone at my age because they are afraid of possible health concerns down the road, and that I may decide to retire too soon make me a good risk."

"I don't want to move back home with my parents. Right before I became unemployed, I had moved out on my own for the first time."

"Nobody has called me in seven months. I don't feel important. I'm not contributing to family finances."