Spark News has talked a deal about the job market and the unemployment rate and how it has effected the everyday life of American workers. A new study, however, has taken a deeper look into the effects of the weak job market on blue collar worker’s motivation in the workplace and their home life as well.
It’s easy to understand that with a high unemployment rate, there are more unhappy people walking around the country. When people are worried about losing their job, it starts to take over the other aspects of their life as well. A study conducted by Spanish psychologists analyzed answers to a questionnaire from 321 workers that averaged an age of 32 and worked in supermarkets and commercial distribution companies, hospitals or employees that worked for temporary agencies. They found that as their fear of losing their job increased, employees became less committed to their work. In fact, they became more dissatisfied with their personal and family lives as well.
The psychologists also found that job insecurity had a more profound effect on blue-collar workers such as hospital attendants or supermarket shelf-stockers than it did on white collars workers such as office administrators and professionals. Study co-author Amparo Caballer was quoted saying, “when faced with job uncertainty, blue-collar workers are less satisfied with life and they work less productively than the other groups studied.” One may assume that blue-collar workers see their job as more expendable and in turn have a greater fear of losing their job than a white-collar worker.
Either way, the study is proof of something we already assumed: that the weak job market has caused people to be more unhappy with their lives. That’s not to say everyone is included in that statement, but it’s safe to say that a large amount of people in the world are more unsatisfied with their work and life than they were a couple years back. As the job market picks up in some parts of the world, other parts still suffer from high unemployment rates and very few available jobs. If the trend continues, it may be safe to say that there will be a plethora of unhappy, unsatisfied workers in the world.
SOURCE: U.S. News Health
IMAGE: Courtesy of M Live
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