FINDING NEW JOBS AFTER A PLANT CLOSING - ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF THE OCCURRENCE AND QUALITY OF REEMPLOYMENT

In a longitudinal study of laid-off industrial workers, we examined the factors which influenced whether individuals got reemployed after a plant closing as well as the factors which influenced whether individuals got satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily reemployed. Financial pressures, levels of optimism and self-blame, and the amount of problem-focused and symptom-focused coping that individuals engaged in were significant predictors of reemployment status. There were also significant differences among the unemployed, satisfactorily reemployed, and unsatisfactorily reemployed in terms of adjustment, with the unsatisfactorily reemployed experiencing substantially lower life satisfaction. The paper highlights quality of reemployment as an important issue in understanding individual adjustment to job loss and the ways in which unemployment and unsatisfactory reemployment can be detrimental to individual well-being.