How Unemployment May Impact Happiness: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The wealth of an economy is traditionally measured by its level of productivity. However, countries with the highest level of productivity do not always report equal levels of happiness and general wellbeing. In fact, there is no direct relationship between both variables and sometimes less wealthy productive countries report higher levels of happiness. Recent studies and theories are trying to demonstrate that the term happiness has made its way into economics literature as the result of economist dissatisfaction who believe happiness should become a matter of study in the field. Unemployment is one of the most recently researched variables in economics and has a direct relationship with happiness. Potentially some other variables such as autonomy, reliability, and added value of happiness would help researchers to better complete economic analysis via a multidisciplinary perspective.