[The health of unemployed women and men. First results of the Telephone Health Survey 2003].

Unemployment has material and psychosocial consequences that can also have an adverse effect on health. According to the Telephone Health Survey 2003, unemployed women and men suffer more frequently from many diseases and complaints. Their assessment of their own state of health is also more negative, and they say more often that their quality of life is restricted by their health. In the case of men, health problems are especially common among the long-term unemployed (>1 year), whereas women can suffer equally (or even more) serious effects on their health as a result of short-term unemployment. On the other hand, the analysis clearly indicates that poor health heightens a person's risk of becoming unemployed. However, no conclusive statement can be made on the direction of causality between unemployment and health, since this requires more longitudinal data.