Multi-method research study shows why leisure activities are as important for the unemployed as they are for the employed.

Can someone who is unemployed experience leisure, or does that seem like a contradiction in terms? If unemployed people can experience leisure, how might it mitigate the negative effects of unemployment? And what form, then, would that leisure take?

The relationship between leisure and unemployment has not received the attention it merits, especially in North America. Because research on leisure and unemployment must cross over areas of study, as...