Being fired hurts more, has longer recovery time than break-up, study finds

CBS Local– In a perfect world, we’d never be fired nor dumped. No one likes to feel unwanted, under-appreciated and overlooked. But, those two things are inevitable in the game of life; both real life and the board game.

But according to a study conducting in the U.K., we care more about being fired than enduring a break-up, and it takes longer to recover from the loss of a job than the loss of an intimate relationship.

The study, conducted by the What Works Center for Wellbeing and the University of East Anglia, says it hits men harder than it does women. They cite data they recovered that found that it takes British men about two years to be fully recovered from breakups, while it takes them about four years to fully recover from the loss of a job.

“After someone loses a partner, [well-being will] take a big dip and then, on average, it’ll get back to previous levels,” said Tricia Curmi, of the What Works Center for Wellbeing, via Bloomberg. “But with unemployment, we just don’t see that happening.”

This news is timely after the high profile lay-offs of on-air talent from ESPN, especially considering an odd number of people seemed to take joy in the sudden, earth-shattering event for the many men and women who were let go of what many consider to be a dream job.

“To have meaning in your life in this society means to be working, contributing, and to have that status,” Curmi said.