The most famous such study, of the long-term unemployed in New Haven, Connecticut, was conducted by E. Wight Bakke, a graduate student and subsequently a professor of economics at Yale University. Through participant interviews, personal observation, time diaries, and longitudinal studies, Bakke showed how extended spells of unemployment caused workers’ skills to deteriorate and made it difficult for them to acquire new ones.
其中最广为人知的是E·怀特·巴克（E. Wight Bakke）——此君当时还是位研究生，后来成为耶鲁大学经济学教授——对康涅狄格州纽黑文市长期失业的研究。通过参与者访谈，个人观察，时间日志和纵向研究等方式，巴克说明了失业期的不断延长是如何导致劳动者丧失其技能并使之更难以找到新工作的。长期失业同时也会引发一系列生理和心理问题，其中包括意志消沉，对事物丧失兴趣以及社会孤立感。