A sub-category of the marginally attached is what the BLS calls “discouraged workers.” For September ‘12 this category totaled about 802,000 individuals (489,000 are men, 313,000 are women). The remaining 1.7 million individuals marginally attached to the workforce have not looked for work in the previous four weeks; for family responsibilities and/or attendance in school had impinged on their ability to look for work. Other reasons, according to Castillo (1998), include health issues, disability challenges, or issues connected to transportation. Regionally, South Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, Florida have the highest rates of discouraged workers. Colorado, Iowa, Main, Montana Oregon, and Wisconsin have the lowest rates.

So what are the reasons that fuel the discouragement of the discouraged workers? According to Castillo (1998), these men and women believe that no jobs are available for them because they are essentially unqualified. More specifically, Castillo notes, this group believes that they do not qualify because they lack the required schooling, experience, or skill-set needed to fill a particular position. Finally, this group perceives that some type of discrimination is at work in the job market that would prevent them from a fair shot at a job opening.

The BLS discouraged workers report only points to overall percentages and the primary reasons that make discouraged workers discouraged. What is not included in the report is an understanding of the word “discouraged.” I think unless we first capture a sense of the meaning of the word “encourage,” the impact of the experience of discouragement may be lost on those of us who read the monthly unemployment reports as only broadly applied percentages.

The word “courage” emerged during 12th century in French and conveyed a place of “innermost strength,” or “the heart.” The heart was that place of strength or confidence from which actions materialized. The etymology of the word “encourage” emerged in the 15^th century in French and meant to “put courage in.” The word “discourage” meant to “withdraw or remove” courage. Fast forward now to what the BLS unemployment report about discouraged workers does not tell us. Discouraged workers are those who have experienced a loss of confidence and esteem. They may feel worthless, forgotten, abandoned, disillusioned, inadequate and otherwise discarded by the labor market. This loss of courage is made more insidious because it is felt in the depths of their being. They may believe that they have absolutely nothing to offer to potential employers because of what they lack (education) or who they are (racial ethnic barriers or other visible or invisible barriers that create a perception of discrimination).  This feeling which emerges from a perception strikes are the heart of their identity.

How might employers respond? Let me suggest three actions that can be taken to make positive in-roads to the discouraged worker population. First, be aware of the fact that these discouraged workers exist. Get these people on your employment radar. Understand the tremendous inner challenges facing this population. As I wrote earlier in “The Psychological Impact of Unemployment,” employers have both an opportunity and share a responsibility to connect with the unemployed and, in particular, those who have been traumatized by the experience of joblessness. This would certainly include discouraged workers.

Second, because the discouraged worker is most likely disengaged, they may be hard to locate. Discouragement tends to fuel social detachment and isolationism. Employers who are looking for new hires would be wise to ask for referrals from current employees who know of someone who would qualify as a discouraged worker. Targeting this population is a great way to draw them out of isolation and to begin a process of encouragement. Give these men and women a fair shot at open positions.

Finally, take a hard look at any visible or invisible barriers that can fuel the perception that your organization hires only certain types of individuals while leaving others out of the employment conversation. Examine your human resource hiring processes, structures, and most importantly, the actual metrics of who gets hired to determine if there is any evidence of discrimination.  Inviting the discouraged worker to the employment conversation fundamentally means first taking a hard look at the way we run our businesses and taking action to remove barriers that keep some people fenced-away from a potential life-giving and hope-restoring conversation.

Jeffrey D. Yergler, Ph.D., is professor of Management and Chair of the Undergraduate Management Department at Golden Gate University, San Francisco. He is also Principal at Integer Leadership Consulting, a firm specializing in Leadership Training and Management Consulting (www.integerleadership.com). Email Jeff at jdy@integerleadership.com.

What is often buried in the monthly unemployment numbers provided each month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is an understanding of the psychologically traumatic experience of involuntary job loss and ongoing unemployment. I argue that this experience is critical to understand because it can inform how hiring managers, human resource professionals, and small business owners can feel more confident about hiring the unemployed…especially the longer term unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or longer). My findings are based on over 40 in-depth interviews with laid-off senior executives to line employees who were living from paycheck-to-paycheck.

When a job loss is experienced as psychologically traumatizing, there are two major areas that are impacted. First, people’s world view or their “fundamental assumptions” about the way the world works changes dramatically.  Where they once saw the world as generally benevolent and good, they now see the world as unpredictable and unsafe which causes loss of hope and optimism. Where they once saw the world as a place where hard work was rewarded, they now see an environment where it does not matter how much effort is applied to improve oneself or an organization. It simply does not matter. Where they once saw themselves as possessing dignity and value, they now see themselves as possessing low value and little dignity.

Just based on these changes in fundamental assumptions about the way the world is viewed and experienced, it is easy to understand why so many unemployed persons are demoralized, hopeless, and struggling with optimism. This would also explain why many hiring managers are reluctant to hire unemployed persons. They may well sense and feel the fragileness and lack of confidence lurking just below the surface in the person being interviewed. The risk is not worth it despite the fact that the individual is a good fit for a specific position.

The second way involuntary job loss and sustained unemployment can impact men and women is revealed in the disruption to specific attitudes and behaviors that are critical to daily interacting and performing:

• Loss of one’s sense of safety.
  • The experience of vulnerability and being easily threatened by others.
• Loss of trust in others and oneself.
  • The struggle to build trusting relationships with others. Lack of confidence in one’s judgment.
• Loss of self-esteem.
  • The belief that one has nothing to offer to people and employers that is valued and needed.
• Loss of intimacy.
  • The sense of being abandoned by people and communities that formerly carried great meaning.
• Loss of control.
  • The perception that others have made decisions that have negatively altered an entire life trajectory.

Looking, then, at the experience of unemployment through the lens of psychological trauma, it makes perfect sense why the unemployed, especially the longer-term unemployed, are often passed-over for any consideration despite the fact that they possess the basic skillset required by the position description. Simply put, the unemployed often represent too much of a financial and behavioral risk for an organization.

I suggest, however, that businesses have a marvelous opportunity, when they prepare and plan accordingly, to hire an unemployed person and to help rebuild what was lost through the experience of unemployment. The reality is that people do recover from traumatic experiences. They can emerge stronger, wiser, more thoughtful, more generous, and more effective professionals.

This is the work that I am committed to not only as a professor (as I work with many unemployed adult students) but also in my role as a consultant with organizations. I am finding that organizations, though they want to be intentional about hiring the unemployed, often need specific coaching on how to create the type of environment that will cultivate and foster employee engagement for those formerly unemployed persons. Despite the additional effort and hard dollars required to make this happen, it is the right thing to do for businesses given this season of massive unemployment. It also gives businesses an incredible competitive advantage. Being strategic and intentional about rebuilding employee engagement with the formerly unemployed not only builds commitment and gratitude but is also an incredible demonstration of social responsibility.

Jeffrey D. Yergler, Ph.D., is professor of Management and Chair of the Undergraduate Management Department at Golden Gate University, San Francisco. He is also Principal at Integer Leadership Consulting, a firm specializing in Leadership Training and Management Consulting (http://www.integerleadership.com/). Email Jeff at jdy@integerleadership.com.