The article consists of two parts: theoretical considerations and reports from empirical research conducted in the environment of academic youth. At the beginning of the first part, selected positions dealing with the problem of understanding and defining unemployment are presented. There are economic, sociological and psychological distinctions, as well as the position of Catholic social teaching. The theoretical part also presents the positive and negative effects of unemployment, distinguishing between economic and social effects and focusing in particular on those that undoubtedly affect personal and family safety, as well as mental and physical health of people affected by unemployment. The first part ends with comments on the ways of counteracting unemployment, in which state institutions play a fundamental role. The second part presents fragments of demoscopic research, the purpose of which was to find out the opinion on the functioning of the labor market and the positive and negative effects of unemployment. The results were presented by citing the statements of the respondents which show the impact of unemployment on the personal and family safety of the unemployed.