A sample of young unemployed men (mean age: 21.7 years) was compared with a sample of middle‐aged unemployed men (mean age: 47.8 years) on a range of psychological and demographic/background variables. The groups were fortuitously matched for length of unemployment, with the average duration of current unemployment being 20.0 months for the young group and 17.9 months for the middle‐aged group. The middle‐aged group displayed poorer mental health, less life satisfaction and greater work involvement than the young group but the groups did not differ in self‐esteem. For the young group the best predictor of well‐being was perceived adequacy of social support and for the middle‐aged group the best predictor was participation in leisure activities involving other people. It was concluded that the poorer mental health displayed by middle‐aged unemployed men is not explained by the fact that they have, in general, been unemployed for longer than their young counterparts. In both groups, the best predictor of affective well‐being was a measure (albeit a different measure) of social support. These conclusions can only be regarded as tentative, however, because of the small sample sizes. Implications of these findings for community support programmes for both young and middle‐aged unemployed gro