A large body of research, most of which is ecological, has investigated the relationship
between job loss or unemployment rates and mental health, substance use, and suicide.

From a prospective study of the impact of stress on health in 300 men assessed every six months,
men who became unemployed after entering the study were compared with an equal number, matched for age and race, who continued to work.
Psychological and health data after unemployment were compared between the two groups by multivariate analysis of variance and covariance.
After unemployment, symptoms of somatization, depression, and anxiety were significantly greater in the unemployed than employed.
Large standard deviations on self-esteem scores in the unemployed group suggested that some men coped better than others with job-loss stress.

Employed people who are actively hunting for a job get more than half of the job offers on the table,
versus unemployed workers who receive only 16% of job offers.
What’s more, the offers were better for employed people.

Inflation can make it harder for companies to offer salary increases at all.
Just as rising inflation leads to higher costs for a consumer or worker, it also means increased costs for a business.
This can have a negative impact on bottom line results – whether due to a drop in revenue or an increase in expenses -
and therefore may have less money to put towards salary budgets for the year ahead.