How are children affected when a parent loses their job?
The report shows that children are not affected to any great extent when parents lose their jobs.
Job loss due to workplace closure negatively affects employees. However, the effects on their children are limited, according to Eva Mörk and Helena Svaleryd from the Department of Economics and Anna Sjögren from IFAU. Their findings are presented in a new report by SNS.
The researchers have studied unemployment due to workplace closure in Sweden between 1995 and 2000. When companies are closed, employees who lose their jobs are affected negatively. For example, they earn less, have poorer health, and divorce risk is higher than comparable people who still have employment. In the new report, Mörk, Svaleryd, and Sjögren display their research findings on how families are affected by workplace closure and subsequent unemployment.
The research shows limited effects on the children in affected families. According to the researchers, one possible explanation for this is that the Swedish welfare system protects families. However, the findings should not be interpreted as children being unaffected by their parent’s unemployment.