a landslide has skilled a 12-year-old boy in japan. heavy rainfall caused the river to burst. it sent aer to rent of mud and rocks into the town. incredible pictures. of course you can also keep up to date with all of the news on our website, aljazeera.com. >> hi, i am lisa fletcher and you are in the today the, emotional cost of unemployment. plus, more women are ending their careers during their peek earning years. what it means for the economy and women in the labor force. and later, as retirement earnings disappoint, senior goss back to work. the tough competition as they are head to head with millenians.

my co-host and digital producer is here, bringing in all of your feedback. the numbers are so astounding, we are talking about 92 million americans out of the labor force, that has to take it's toll in so many ways. >> as i graduated from law school, everything was supposed to work out, and for eight months i couldn't get a job, and it take as toll on you. you feel you'lluated and you don't even want to go out in the community because you feel like you are worthless. i have no work for about four months i nearly lost my car, offs wreck. then i got work at a nonprofit, it beat humility into me, however now i run my own business, good for you. now we said depressed employees have been found to miss more days of work, what can employers to do this. >> employers shout not cig miamis mental

illness. >> there's a $23 billion price tag on that. losing your job can be a difficult and emotional experience, in fact, according to a new poll, one in five american whose have been unemmied for a year or more, say they have been treated for depression, and left untreated apparently they have an increase lick liehood of being unemmied again. and it's costing employer as bundle. from worker absences due to depression. so what is the long term consequences of unemployment depression? and who is is working on interventions to stop this rapidly growing problem in it's tracks in we have a great line-up of guests to brake it down. on set, travis davis. a progressive policy organization. before his current job he was unemployed for more nan a year and suffers from depression. on skype out of oakland california is david blue steen.

a psychologist and professor, he looks at the intersection of mental health, and work, and recently testified before congress on a law that would prohibit discrimination against the long term unemployed. and out of washington, d.c., omar ucif, he is a recent grad who has been unable to find work, thank you for joining us. david, right now, this more than 92 million americans out of the labor force, and a number of studies are showing a corelation between unemployment and depression. what's the state of mental health as related to the people out of work? >> it is a great question. the state of the situation in my view is dire. the research evidence is very clear that unemployment especially unemployment for six months or more, is causally related to mental health problems. so the mental health -- some indices of mental

health among the emmyed verses unemployed, indade that unemployed folks 34% tend to have mental health problems, whereas 60% of the general population has mental health problems. so the chances are twice as likely that if you are unemployed especially six months or more, that you will have difficulties. the key factor here is that the best treatment for the mental health problems that emerge out of a long term period of unemployment is re-employment. so while as a nation we do need to provide support, we also need to provide more jobs. this is critical. >> depression can be triggers biosphere's sos you were dealing with depression when you first became unemployed. was that depression made worse by your unemployment? >> i have by polar type

2, which is the less fun version of bipolar. my initial unemployment was triggered by a hypomanic episode. i had a nonprofit, which i had started in new york that was doing quite well, and i ended up just completely burning out and having to go back and live with my parents. in my late 20's. and the stress of being unemployed trigger as very scary and deep depression, and it is daily humiliation, and it is tough for anyone to be depressed but if you have a propensity towards mental illness, it will make it that much worse. eventually it was well managed request medication. the problem i found when i went out to look for jobs again, is i would go to an interview and they would say oh what did you do for the past year and a half. well, i was -- i had a diagnosed medical condition, one with that's actually protected

by the disabilities act, i wouldn't necessarily say that but it is true, and i got good treatment. i'm medicated, i am stable, long term. and thank you for coming. >> we'll call you. >> yeah. one gets the sense if i said i have cancer and i had been treated with with chemotherapy, and now in remission, they would look at me and say you are so brave. and really, over the lifetime, bipolar disorder has a very high mortality rate. except it doesn't have the dignity of being something that's not your fault. trevor you said dignity, why does unemployment lead to such distress, because capitalism depipes worth. your credit sected p and if you have kids they

witness all of it to. look, you are a fellow pakistani american, highly educated i empathize with your struggle you are looking for a job, what has this unemployment done to you, you sense of self-and confidence? >> i would really resonate with a lot of what you said earlier, about how it kind of shatters or threatens your confidence. because you have gone flu so much schooling, i did fairly well in law school, i did exceptionally well in my masters program. i have governor internships various job experience, but it challenges everything that you went through, and what you can contribute to society. i think you have to re-evaluate yourself every day. david, you know, men and women are both obviously experiencing high levels of up enemployment. but i am wondering if the

effect on men is more profound in terms of depression. because it seems like a lot of times self-worth and identity is tied to their ability to provide, and when that's taken away, it has to have a huge toll. >> absolutely. in fact the research evidence does support the fact that men are much more vulnerable to mental health problems in a long term unemployment. we usually define it to six months or more, so that is without question another major issue in terms of gender distribution. however, as more and more women get into the work force, and become identified with work rolls they will also be much more vulnerable to having unpleasant mental health experience as a result of unemployment. i do want to dovetail with this by pointing out that also people to do have a predisposition, it does create a particular burden, in what i do feel

for our other guest whose have had to struggle with that, and you are right, there are regulations that would prohibit discrimination, because of mention fall health problems but with unemployment rate being so high, employers can pick and choose who they will hire. >> by tracking the effects associated are there interventions that policy makers can come up with to help ease this issue in the work force. >> yes, there's a few things. when i did appear in prong of cook, which has been designed by two democrats from kentucky, dongman delora, and senator bloomen that will. the intention is to prohibit discrimination against people who have been long term unemployed. right now the situation is such, we have interviewed people who have been unemployed.

if you are filling out an application, and you indicate you are not working that will often shut down. and president obama given enormous credit for this, put together a conference in february, on the consequences of long term unemployment, and has been advocating for legislation like this, so there are some interventions which i think we do need to support, there's also legislation bending that will provide tax breaks before companies in will employ the long term unemmied. >> there is also the problem that tafiady pressive episode, long term unemployment, people are very unlikely to have a return to their previous level of functioning. so there is a matter of urgency to get people back into work, back into the daily swing of life. aside from discrimination issues. >> and rafael, on twitter, a little bit --

congress is actually busy at each other's throats it is a lost hope there, so we have to find other solutions. >> that's a good mountain. because many members of congress, many of the people watching have family members with experience with these issues. this is not something that anyone can say that i don't know anything about. >> when you talk about 90 million people, it touches everyone. coming up next, most people wouldn't voluntarily leave a job during their peek earning years, but that's exactly what is happening with more women, bringing not just bad news for them, but for the economy. and later seniors are heading back into the labor force and hitting some unexpected obstacles even for entry level positions. barriers in the workplace for some of the most experiences when we come >> al jazeera america presents >> just because you're pregnant, don't mean you life's ended. 15 stories, 1 incredible journey >> edge of eighteen coming september

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>> the study found that when women 55 and older became unemployed they stayed jobless the longest of any group. blatche. >> now on the flip side is the increased number of women leaving their jobs voluntarily during their peek earning years. some unique challenges women face in the work force, vice president for family economic security, at the national women's law center. she is a former sales represent why has been unemployed for about a year, thank you for being here. so joan, does unemployment effect women differently nan it effects men.

>> it does, but in a particular way. the unemployment rate for those that are six months or more, is similar for women and men. about four and ten adults that lose a job are unemployed for six months or more, and the average length is about nine months. so in that sense, there's not a gender gap. but what is difference about women, is that when they were employed they were earning less, so they have less saved, they are much more likely to be single parents. so they have greater economic obligations. they have to figure out child care, in order to look for a job and go back to work. so when they lose a job, it hits them even harder than it does men. and that's the real challenge for women and their families. >> so deborah you have been out of work for a year, and as jane was saying, money is such an enormous stressor, worrying about running out before getting a new

job, in us to that financial stress, what other impacts on your mental well being and your family have you experienced that you probably couldn't have predicted? >> being unemployed not only like you said, is a huge shot, not to have the money there, was mentally it does a real number on the women especially, and i can speak because i am one. because i'm a single mom, and all the bills are on me. i am frying to put a child through college. he is working all he can, and i have to ask him to now help me with the bills. so you feel like you are a failure as a mother that you have done everything you thought you were supposed to do, save money, work hard, and then all of a sudden there's no money left. and there's no government money to even fall back on and you can't even go look for a job any more.

depp bra we have a lot of money in our community that empathize. >> six months i went to work with and i felt broken. on facebook. joan, 27% of women say they quit their job to cake for their elders or their children. >> i think part of what happens is when women can't get a paying job, and they have these other care responsibilities, sometimes they may just say well, i'm having trouble finding a job, or couldn't possibly find a job that would pay enough for me to pay someone to look after my children, or help with my aging parents, so i might as

well do it myself. but that makes it even hard tore get back into the labor force if as a child gets older but now they have had even more time out of the labor force, and taking time out can make it even more difficult, as they get older after caring for an aging parent. again, getting back into the labor market is harder. so they pay -- they may be ending up to pay an enormous price, even though at the moment it makes sense, oh, i am not finding work, and the work that i might find doesn't pay very well, so i might as well do care giving. but it's very hard. and so the lack of support for care giving, that there aren't enough resources available to provide that care. it falls back on women. >> so i wonder if there's something connected to this, because there's this phenomenon that seems counter inintuitive that's women that have spent their entire year

climbing the larder, like late 40's to 50's. now we have an aging population, their parent whose are living longer, is there some connection that they too are voluntarily leaving their jobs to perhaps take care of elder families? is why do you think this is happening? some women are leaving the job market, but let's no overstate the numbers that are doing that. it has gone up and it is more noticeable because some of those women did have decent jobs, but i think it is all -- it has been a struggle for women in middle age to be sort of caught between the demands of their own children, their parents, and their jobs, and the lack of resources in this society. for providing long term care. child care, we are very short on child care assistance resources. and we are very short on

helping families meet the care needs of their parents and it is going to get even tougher. i mean it is tended to fall on the children of elders, particularly the women. whether it's their mother or their mother-in-law, but now is the baby boomers are aging they have fewer children, and it is going to i think just become a bigger problem. >> deborah, you are in this age group, you didn't leave your job voluntarily, but you are dealing with reentry issues at an age where a lot of people will look at women in that age group, and say well, you have lost your edge, is this something you can are confronting in your job serve. >> definitely. we are in a job -- a very tough job market, but to make matters worse, you are too young to retire, and you are too old to get up. we are looked upon as oh you are fixing to retire, so the job market is so

slim for us, because they don't want to hire you when they know that you are going to be retiring in maybe ten, 15 years. and then this' no benefit until you retire, so you are stuck with nothing income and nobody wants to hire you, i was told recently, by my work force commission in texas don't put your age on your resume. well, how can you -- vennly you will have an interview, hopefully, you can't hide the fact of your age, just the fact that everybody knows that, there's such an age discrimination factor, with women and long term unemployment. >> deborah, too young to retire, too hold to be hired, karen echosly be 58 next birthday, i am would recollecting went hour as week for $7.202005 i lost frac of the number of resumed for entry level jobs. we receive no public assistance. >> thank you so much for being with us, from age discrimination, to competition with those

more than half their age, the hurdle senior citizens are having to overcome, and sumaging jobs what's the west way to reentry gait them into the work force? should they need to reinvent themselves? don't move, we be right

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. >> senior citizens often have a more difficult time entering the job force nan other age groups. president and ceo of the center for effective government. back on set, we have joan with us. what are some of the challenges that even the most qualified seniors are facing when they are attempting to reenter the work force. >> the biggest problem people report to us, we have 2300 stories of unemployed people, long term unemployed people. the biggest problem they talk about is age discrimination. of course that's ill heel. people don't ask you what your age is, they ask year what year you graduated and that tells them how old you are. so consistently we hear stories rabbit people who feel look as soon as they give that response, they never hear pro tem ployier again. >> you talk about stories, and you are dealing with people who

are looking to do more than supplement their income, there's a real need here, can you tell us some of the stories you hear? >> absolutely. question started collecting stories in february march, and initially of people who had been cut off from extended unemployment. these are people who had been unemployed for at least six months. i think joan will tell you that the average length of time for someone over 55 to be unemployed is over a year. so these are people who have been unemployed for a long time, and not getting any income support. initially they were saying we are having a hard time paying our utilities and sometimes we don't have enough food at the end of the month, now, what we are hearing is that people are going through their savings, they are going through their i.r.a., their retirement accounts and they are still facing -- and they are selling off their possessions. and they are still having a hard time making the rent or making their mortgage. so we are dealing with a huge crisis in is completely undercoverred by the media. of these people who are

between 55 and not yet old enough to qualify for social security. who have no income support from unemployment, and no employment. so they have no means of support and trying to bridge. >> kathryn, our community has share add lot of stories i am retired now by i relocated in my 40's did a career change in my 50's, company said pay was too low for my ebb pierce, and i just need add job. i have been under employed working minimum wage since i tried to enter the work force after having raised my children, i am competing with 16-year-olds for jobs that pay little more than poverty wages. what are the unique changes that seniors or those who are 55 plus facing when trying to reenter the work force and competing with millen i wills in. >> well, they get one of two answers. sometimes it is oh, you are overqualified the ever this job. you have too much experience, too much education. but i want it, and so they are rejected on that basis. or they are viewed as not

having relevant experience, or age discrimination, the assumption is that they won't learn the skills or don't have the skills and they may perfectly well have the computer skills that are needed because they have been working, and yet there is an assumption oh, they are not, or that they are going to retire or health benefits will be too costly, in any event, there is widespread discrimination that makes it harder for seniors to force. >> i think the healthcare issue is a big one. employers are very concerned about healthcare costs of older employees. we had one story that we -- a woman told us about she was 58 from michigan, and she had to go in for a hip replacement, she got a letter of termination from her employer while she was still recovering. >> this 92 million who are not part of the labor

force that includes an aging population that is continuing to head into retirement, retirees and people that have given up, they are unemployed but no longer looking. speaking of, kathryn does retirement look different for people in their 50's and 60's now? than it did for their parents generation. >> oh, sure. what we see now is that more and more people took equity out of their homes to pay for kids college education, so they don't have that asset to rely on, in some areas of the country, the real estate market has not emproved from the 2007-8 slump. so they may stale be under water. so people can't cash in the house the way they used to be able to. that's a huge difference, of many people in the last generation also had defined benefit plans. they don't now. it depends on whether or not you put enough money into your i.r.a. and increasingly we are

seeing people who are in their 50's, had this spell of unemployment where they are not getting any kind of assistance, they are dipping into the ira accounts and that means they are not 59 1/2, and they are dipping into those accounts they have a penalty. so they have a penalty that is just disappears from penalty charge so the money disappears from their account, plus they are trying to use retirement before they should. so they are looking at increased vulnerable by the time they get to retirement age. this is going to be a huge problem. the retirement security crisis in this country in another ten years but i think this is the beginning of it. these are the cannonries in the mine, these people that are unemployed now. >> all right, thank you so much to all of our guests today. until next time, we will see you online.