Unemployment Kills, Literally

Losing your job can take a year off your life, according to new research from Columbia University. Daniel Sullivan of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Till von Wachter of Columbia University jointly published a paper showing that mortality rates for high-senority male workers spiked sharply (50-100%) in the year following a layoff and remains high even two decades later.

If this death rate persists into old age, it implies “a loss in life expectancy of 1.0-1.5