Dr. Nicholas Jolly grew up in a family where multiple people worked in manufacturing, an industry that suffers from relatively high rates of involuntary job loss, particularly over the past few years. It’s how he got interested in the impacts of labor turnover on people’s personal lives.
“If someone loses their job, I’m interested in what implications there are for their own lives and what it does to their families,” says Jolly, an associate professor of economics.
That curiosity led him to co-author a paper titled “Young Adult Substance Use Following Involuntary Job Loss” that examined how the intensity and frequency of substance use changed after getting laid off. Gwen Davis, a 2019 graduate of the Master of Science in Applied Economics program, co-authored the paper.
Davis knew Jolly well prior to working with him as a research assistant; he was her undergraduate adviser. While taking Jolly’s labor economics class, Davis knew she wanted to conduct job displacement research that had policy implications — something “out of the box,” as she describes it. She was sold on helping with Jolly’s research project as soon as he approached her with the opportunity.
Together, Jolly and Davis combed through data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a survey conducted by the University of Michigan that measures economic, social and health factors across multiple generations of families. The study was originally centered on seeing what parental job loss did to children, but they ran into problems with the data: the sample size was too small to draw any robust conclusions. That’s when Davis suggested investigating substance abuse among young adults who lost their jobs instead.
It didn’t take long for the two researchers to find results.
“We found that there is a relationship between job loss and increased use of marijuana and alcohol,” says Davis, who now works as a senior data communications specialist with the National Association of County and City Health Officials. “This is a citable study that can be used to support policy decisions to help people get back on their feet.”
“If you get laid off from your job through no fault of your own, the probability of drinking and smoking goes up, as does the rate at which you use these substances,” Jolly says.
Both researchers are quick to point out that this is just one study; it needs replication across multiple datasets. Doing so allows policymakers in the field to draw a stronger causal link between unemployment and substance abuse.
Assuming the paper’s conclusions are upheld across those tests, it suggests a range of potential policy actions to help those who involuntarily lose their jobs, such as substance abuse prevention resources offered as a part of outplacement services. These interventions, if carried out early enough in the process, could make it easier for people to rebound from a traumatic life event.
“We need to start thinking about why our results are saying the things they are and what resources are available to dislocated workers to cushion the shock of losing your job,” Jolly says.
The experience of working on the research project was immensely impactful for Davis; it was one of the first things on her resume when she applied for jobs after graduation. She works directly with researchers, and the experience as a research assistant at Marquette makes her better at her job.
“Research isn’t easy; it pushes you and it makes you a better professional,” Davis says. “It’s a really cool experience if you commit to it. Producing something like this makes you feel like you’re a professional before you even graduate.”
