The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on different facets of the well-being of employed and unemployed workers - an interdisciplinary study based on real-time data

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Since 2017, Freie Universität Berlin and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) have conducted a longitudinal study investigating the effects of unemployment on various indicators of well-being (subjective, psychological, physical). The project has been funded by the DFG. Rich monthly panel data of the same workers have been collected using a survey app. Thanks to an innovative control group design, the data facilitate examining the effects of unemployment on different well-being facets comprehensively. Moreover, the level of cortisol in people’s hair is ascertained to compare the subjective survey data with an objectively measured biomarker of habitual stress. This application for an extension of the project funding pursues three goals: First, we want to answer those research questions outlined in the initial funding proposal that could not be addressed yet due to an unanticipated delay in recruiting participants for the survey. Second, we aim to study how the macroeconomic environment influences the effect of unemployment on well-being. So far, we have recruited participants and observed entries into unemployment during a boom. This has changed dramatically in the meantime. From a theoretical perspective, increased uncertainty about future employment prospects due to the corona crisis may lead to more negative effects of unemployment on well-being than before. However, the opposite effect is also conceivable as unemployment might be less stigmatizing when it is highly prevalent. To investigate which of these two effects dominates, we have recruited a new study cohort of jobseekers since July 2020. It will enable us to compare the well-being effects of unemployment before and after the corona crisis. Third, we want to analyze how the Covid-19 pandemic affects the well-being and stress of employed subjects from the initial study cohort who still participate. Our longitudinally collected data offer the unique opportunity of comparing various innovative measures of the same people’s well-being before and after the crisis (e.g. hair cortisol, experience sampling). Other surveys do not facilitate these analyses as they either started after the outbreak of the pandemic or do not include similarly sophisticated assessment methods. Thus, we can comprehensively investigate the effects of the corona crisis on various well-being facets while also considering potential moderator variables (e.g., job security, coping strategies).