Longitudinal observations are reported on three samples of unemployed school‐leavers who were followed up after one, two and three years respectively following an initial survey taken while they were still at school. In each case interest focused on possible differences between those who had been continuously unemployed since leaving school and those who had become unemployed following job loss. The two unemployed groups did not differ consistently on any of the psychological measures; moreover, in general there was no evidence of an overall decline in psychological well‐being. It is concluded that job loss, as opposed to failure to find a job, is not in itself a traumatic experience for the young per