Ch. 5 employment and self-esteem

In chapter five there was a section that discussed employment and its relation to self-esteem. The article uses real life scenarios when they ask a 56 year old executive that was recently laid-off without warning about his emotional state during that time. J Fiacco, the former executive described his feelings as such, “I had never felt so lonely and helpless. I had been working since I was 16.” Mr. Fiacco, along with thousands of other people have had their lives change dramatically during the current economic struggle. With more and more people losing jobs and unemployment levels rising is it possible for a nation’s population to fall into a depression emotionally? People with jobs generally have higher self-esteem then those unemployed. People that our employed are generally more assertive, self-accepting, and have personal integrity.