| A recession represents a complex macroeconomic event that creates considerable stress in a population and is an inescapable feature of the economic landscape (Vlasenko, 2014). Moreover, beginning with the recession of 1990, the U.S. entered a new era of the modern (or structural) recession (Vlasenko, 2014). Modern recessions differ from earlier traditional (or simple) recessions in that permanent job loss is more prevalent (Vlasenko, 2014). They also differ from traditional recessions in the speed of job recovery. During traditional U.S. recessions before 1990, job recovery typically occurred quickly (within one year) after a recession ended. In contrast, modern recessions are characterized by jobless recoveries. Jobs recover very slowly, often taking many years after a recession ends, with correspondingly more long-term unemployment (Vlasenko, 2014). These changes result in more deleterious outcomes for workers. The most obvious impact is the more severe and prolonged involuntary unemployment. Decades of mico-level research show that involuntary unemployment results in poor physical and mental health (Brand, 2015; McKee-Ryan, Song, Wanberg, & Kinicki, 2005; Paul & Moser, 2009), as well as scarring effects after reemployment, such as wage penalties and continuing poor mental health (e.g., Brand, 2015; Strandh, Winefield, Nilsson, & Hammarstrom, 2014). However, we know much less about what happens to the employed during recessions. Downsizing, permanent layoffs, and jobless recoveries that occur during modern recessions may have a broad influence on work environments and place high demands on the employed because productivity gains result from more output from fewer workers (Vlasenko, 2014). Moreover, the dynamics of modern recessions may broadly affect perceptions of insecurity regarding continuity of employment. Several models of stress suggest that a recession represents a primary macroeconomic stressor that increases exposure to secondary stressors at work, which then undermine employee health and work attitudes (Burgard & Kalousova, 2015; Pearlin & Bierman, 2013; Probst, 2005; Shoss, 2017; Tausig, 2013). In other words, a modern recession may create a perfect storm of secondary stressors that undermine the health and work attitudes of the employed when employers need to navigate the challenges of the major economic downturn. Despite a paucity of research on the effects of recessions among the employed, several studies have partially addressed this issue. First, using a national repeated cross-sectional study of the U.S. workforce, Frone (2016) reported that the Great Recession was associated with net increases in binge drinking and intoxication. Further, although the recession was associated with a net reduction in alcohol use during the workday, it was associated with a net increase in alcohol use after work. Second, using a repeated cross-sectional study of civil servants in Northern Ireland, Houdmont, Kerr, and Addley (2012) found that the Great Recession was associated with net increases in work demands, role ambiguity, coworker interpersonal conflict, and with net decreases in job control, coworker support, and participation in change at work. |