Those who have experienced unemployment know the burdens that it creates, and a growing academic literature documents some dimensions of those burdens.
For example, research has shown that workers who lose previously stable jobs experience sharp declines in earnings that may last for many years, even after they find new work.2 Surveys indicate that more than one-half of the households experiencing long unemployment spells since the onset of the recent recession withdrew money from savings and retirement accounts to cover expenses, one-half borrowed money from family and friends, and one-third struggled to meet  2  For example, see Till von Wachter, Jae Song, and Joyce Manchester (2009), “Long-Term Earnings Losses Due to Mass Layoffs during the 1982 Recession: An Analysis Using U.S.