Research shows that unemployment and low socioeconomic status are linked with higher risk for addiction, compared to having a job and being in the middle class. Although the media has focused on heroin and prescription opioid misuse these days as being a “middle class” problem, the risk of addiction is more than three times higher for people making less than $20,000 compared to those who make over $50,000. These facts make President Trump’s promises to increase employment — perhaps through an infrastructure program — critical if he wants to deal with the opioid epidemic in the long run.
Meaningful work is one of the best antidotes against addiction: employment is a key factor predicting who will avoid addiction, or will struggle with addiction for a short period of time and eventually recover.
This correlation runs both directions: people with addiction lose their jobs as a result of their impairment. Being hopeless and jobless makes escaping with drugs more attractive. The research shows that addiction does lead to some cases of unemployment — but also, unemployment itself increases drug use. For people to sustain recovery, having a job matters.
These links can be seen clearly in a recent analysis done by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which looked at how the increase in unemployment due to the Great Recession was accompanied by a rise of drug use by the unemployed. Although some of this could have resulted from methodological issues, the size of the increase suggests that unemployment, which is a source of stress, does put people at higher risk for drug problems.
Common sense suggests some reasons for these associations: employment is not only how many of us spend most of our time, it’s also a source of meaning, purpose and identity....
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
