UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCES LIFE EXPECTANCY...
Accurate Unemployment Statistics Are Not Easy To Find For Some Countries in the World...But the principles are the same no matter where you live. The Global Economy is here to stay, so we are all in this together now and that means we must learn from each other. This article about Unemployment in America is true everywhere in the world...when a large number of people cannot find work they lose more than money. Many lose their lives...
The evidence is mounting that tens of thousands of Americans will pay for the loss of jobs brought on by this economic downturn with their lives...The most dangerous Job is having no job!
According to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 31 million Americans are unemployed, including those who are "underemployed" and those who have lost hope and stopped looking. Although it is still too early in the cycle to get your arms around enough data to produce an accurate forecast the historical evidence is clear what's at stake here is far more than the impact on the economy. The reduction in Life Expectancy these people and their families have and will face in the years to come from this national tragedy is hard to estimate, at this point in the process, but that doesn't make it any less real. The fact that it takes up to six years for all of this to play out (2 years just to compile the data) is the reason it often goes un-noticed, but one estimate is that during prolonged economic downturns each 1% increase in unemployment results in 37,000 deaths.
Looking at the unemployment maps below from this perspective gives them new meaning and we hope an added sense of urgency to get this problem resolved. There is an Economic War going on in this country and we aren't just paying for it with a reduction in our standard of living, we are paying for it with the loss of American lives.
According to renowned risk expert, Bernard L. Cohen PhD, life expectancy varies substantially with occupation. Post office employees, university professors, workers in clothing manufacturing and in communications industries live 1-2 years longer than average, and miners, policemen, firemen, truck drivers, and fishermen die 2-3 years younger than average. Poverty can reduce life expectancy by as much as 9 years and not just in the US. In Britain, the difference in life expectancy between "professionals" and unskilled workers is estimated to be 7.2 years. When Canadian men were ranked by income the top 10% have 32% less incidences of heart disease and stroke, 34% less cancer and 88% fewer deaths by accidents from poison and violence. With few exceptions extended unemployment puts everyone on a path to poverty in their "mind's eye" if not in real terms...having no job is the most dangerous job of all.
SUICIDE IS NOT THE ONLY PROBLEM
Images of suicide immediately come to mind when you think of someone losing hope due to falling on difficult times, but few people take their own lives the day they receive a pink slip. The first indication that suicide rates are on the rise is calls to the national suicide hotlines which reached almost 60,000 in May of this year alone. Hirsch Mental Health in LA reportedly received more than twice as many calls in 2008 than in any previous year. Historically we know that the highest suicide rate in history was in 1933 during the heart of the great depression. We could show you other historical studies that indicate the risk of suicide is triple among the unemployed, but we intend to avoid this data, for now, because even these stats can be debated based upon different economic conditions in the country at the time these studies were compiled. Suicide is factor, but to reach a ratio of 37,000 deaths for each 1% increase in unemployment many other variables must be considered.
When you add the increases in domestic violence, alcohol consumption, admissions to mental hospitals, and stress induced heart disease, stroke and cancer into the equation, just to name a few, it's not hard to imagine the depth and length of the unemployment problem we face now even exceeding the 1%-37,000 death ratio that's been so hard to define. We need to pull together as a nation and solve this horrible problem and perhaps understanding the fact that saving or providing a Job could mean saving a life ought to be included in our national debate.
The circumstances we find ourselves in are beyond politics. Improved healthcare will help, but it is often after the fact which means much of the damage is already done. On the surface it would seem that charity is the solution, but the evidence is clear the problem runs much deeper than that. The decline in self worth and confidence taking place in our country today requires more than just acts of generosity and kindness. Charity applies where charity applies, but we need an attitude adjustment that includes a forward thinking approach to this problem that produces immediate results. Part of this responsibility rests with our leaders, but the bulk of it rests with us all...These Americans don't need a review of the past, they need hope and belief in the future and they need it now! Tom LeDuc