Unemployment

Abstract

Social workers have a vital role to play in facilitating entry and reentry by workers into the labor market. The broad-based approach to client assessment typical of an ecological model is well-suited to assessing the needs of the unemployed. Traditional social work practice that combines a commitment to instrumental concerns with skillful use of clinical counseling techniques can have substantial benefits for unemployed clients and their family members. A major challenge for social workers, however, is to become more adept at identifying employment-related problems and more deliberate and effective in dealing with these matters. This chapter reviews assessment strategies and social work interventions focused on addressing unemployment. These efforts include job coaching, mentoring, career counseling, individual, group, and family interventions, as well as community prevention and intervention efforts.