Work, Jobs and Unemployment

Psychological health depends upon the nature of the work which a person undertakes. In addition to workers in paid jobs, mothers work in their domestic roles, volunteers in community projects are working, members of an amateur football team or a choir work during practice and in public performance, and a person works in the garden or in decorating the kitchen.
Work can be beneficial even when it is not enjoyable. Conversely, of course, work can also be harmful. We need to learn which aspects and types of work enhance psychological well-being and which impair well-being. Such an approach does not deny the significance of leisure, the opportunity not to work. Leisure is valuable in its own right, and also because contrasts between work and leisure sharpen the value of each.