Introduction:

The significance of regional unemployment for both life satisfaction and health satisfaction – to cover the linkage between mental and physical health – is explored by Grözinger and Matiaske. Being hindered or excluded from participation in the labor market is today one of the most important dimensions of inequality in Western societies. Using two target variables and various models it is found that high regional unemployment has a profound decline of both categories of satisfaction as its consequence. Independent of the question of whether a particular person is unemployed, regional unemployment represents an overall strong negative externality for residents, the significance of which goes far beyond the pure loss of income for those directly effected. At issue seems to be an originary aversion to unemployment and less the fear of actual personal repercussions, since employees in the public services also exhibit this reaction.