Unemployment as a Contemporary Social Issue – Sociological and Economic Aspects

The authors root their text in the traditions of memoir/diary research in Poland. They present the basic assumptions of collecting diaries through a competition in 2017–2018 and of research on this material. The authors review contemporary studies of unemployment. At the backdrop of the dominant perspective looming from these studies, they outline a new dimension of unemployment as a social issue stemming from the research of the diaries’ content. They focus on the authors’ of diaries exclusion from the labor market and their resistance against taking up jobs below qualifications. The authors of diaries commonly point to the past exploitation in the workplace and simultaneous aspiration to take up work tailored to their self-estimated needs, potential and competences. In the article, several dimensions of the unemployment experience among young educated Poles are outlined with the reference to the ‘quality’ of available work, experience in looking for a job, contacts with labor administration, mental health problems or relationship crises.