Ofer Sharone, "The Stigma Trap: College-Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Jan 12, 2026

Ofer Sharone, a sociologist at UMass Amherst and the author of *The Stigma Trap*, explores the hidden stigma surrounding long-term unemployment, revealing how even highly educated individuals fall victim. He discusses how recruiters' biases render qualified candidates invisible and the emotional toll that extended joblessness takes on identity and relationships. Drawing from personal stories, he emphasizes the urgent need for systemic change and greater emotional support to combat the shame that impacts job seekers' persistence.

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INSIGHT

Unemployment Stigma Overrides Credentials

Recruiters routinely use unemployment as a heuristic to cull applicants from large pools.
Ofer Sharone shows stigma makes credentials irrelevant despite layoffs being structural, not personal.

INSIGHT

Employed Candidates Get The Benefit Of The Doubt

Recruiters prefer currently employed candidates as an easy shortcut to narrow applicants.
Overqualification then blocks experienced jobseekers from stepping down because employers assume they won't be satisfied.

INSIGHT

No Easy Lateral Escape

Lateral moves fail when experienced applicants lack direct experience in a new industry.
Ofer Sharone shows both upward and sideways mobility are obstructed, creating a trap.

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An eye-opening look at how all American workers, even the highly educated and experienced, are vulnerable to the stigma of unemployment.

After receiving a PhD in mathematics from MIT, Larry spent three decades working at prestigious companies in the tech industry. Initially he was not worried when he lost his job as part of a large layoff, but the prolonged unemployment that followed decimated his finances and nearly ended his marriage. Larry's story is not an anomaly. The majority of American workers experience unemployment, and millions get trapped in devastating long-term unemployment, including experienced workers with advanced degrees from top universities. How is it possible for even highly successful careers to suddenly go off the rails?

In The Stigma Trap: College-Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed (Oxford UP, 2024), Ofer Sharone explains how the stigma of unemployment can render past educational and professional achievements irrelevant, and how it leaves all American workers vulnerable to becoming trapped in unemployment. Drawing on interviews with unemployed workers, job recruiters, and career coaches, Sharone brings to light the subtle ways that stigmatization prevents even the most educated and experienced workers from gaining middle-class jobs. Stigma also means that an American worker risks more than financial calamity from a protracted period of unemployment. One's closest relationships and sense of self are also on the line.

Eye-opening and clearly written, The Stigma Trap is essential reading for anyone who has experienced unemployment, has a family member or friend who is unemployed, or who wants to understand the forces that underlie the anxiety-filled lives of contemporary American workers. The book offers a unique approach to supporting unemployed jobseekers. At a broader level it exposes the precarious condition of American workers and sparks a conversation about much-needed policies to assure that we are not all one layoff away from being trapped by stigma.

Stephen Pimpare is a Senior Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

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