Chuka Umunna Quotes

The psychological trauma of losing a job can be as great as the trauma of a divorce.

Not being able to work would make me very unhappy.

If I can't work, I don't know what to do with myself.

You go from being with the guys all the time in the locker room, in practice, having a militarized brain in terms of this schedule, and then, all of a sudden, you are on your own. You lose a sense of purpose; you lose a sense of yourself. And you lose confidence. You find yourself saying, 'I was the best at this, and now I'm not the best.'

Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you'd expect. Aside from the obvious harm - poverty, difficulty paying off debts - it seems to directly affect people's health, particularly that of older workers.

Compared with the employed, the jobless are less likely to vote, volunteer, see friends and talk to family. Even on weekends, the jobless spend more time alone than those with jobs.

Being unemployed has so many real and palpable ramifications but there are also psychological side effects which you can only understand if you've truly lived through it.

Not working makes you ill, sad, depressed. It ages you.

Work is what structures adults' lives: it gives us purpose, focus, a set of responsibilities, and an identity. So when people are not participating in the labour market, all sorts of other things often start to go wrong.

I had no work after 'Gangster' for two years, and my sister Rangoli met with an accident that destroyed her looks. My struggle with my parents combined with the industry not accepting me made me feel alienated.

After that I couldn't show my face outside. I lost my identity and balance. I was still living with my parents, and they were my only friends. For so many people, this thing with the nurse was confirmation that I must be mad or mentally ill.

It's so easy for me to fall back into depression. I think it comes with having money. I don't have to work. I could be sitting bored and depressed at home with a bag on my head.

This crisis of long-term unemployment is having a profoundly damaging impact on the lives of those bearing the brunt of it. We know this thanks to a series of careful studies of the problem conducted in the depths of the 1930s Great Depression.

There's no way to eloquently put this. I just can't go to the mall. It bothers me that I can't be outside very often. And also to not ever be just 'some girl' again. Just being some chick at some place, that's gone.

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.

I didn't like not having work and not having people return my calls.

It's heartbreaking to see so many people trapped in a web of enforced idleness, deep debt, and gnawing self-doubt.

People blame themselves for their own layoffs…. We ignore the effect on mental health. Every person in this society who is laid off is told that they lack value…. We undermine public health.

The last time I was unemployed was 1989, and I've seen the research on retired people and how they feel about it. I'm definitely wired in a way that you wouldn't predict it would go wonderfully.

The main thing that triggered my depression was my isolation that was imposed on me by becoming the wife of the prime minister, and leaving my home, my family. I was young, very young, and very naive and very hopeful and enthusiastic about my wonderful new life, but it was the loneliness and the lack of being able to properly relate to people.

Being out of work is very depressing. But luckily I haven't been there for a long time.

We already know that the experience of lockdown is a mixed bag. It is increasingly recognised that for many it can be hellish. Enforced leisure - if you are crippled with worry about debts, insecure job prospects, your family's health - is no holiday.

I lived in buses. I didn't really have anything else. I didn't feel like a female, and I ended up really kind of isolated. Everybody thinks you're so happy and so wealthy and such a big star, but you're really kind of lonely and don't know how to stop it.

I was miserable at uni. There were months at a time when I wouldn't leave the house unless it was to buy food. I lost a lot of friendships. I later lost jobs because of my mental health.

You get into depression when you are sitting at home and have no work, especially after being at the top of your game.