EMPIRICAL AND CONSTRUCT VALIDATION OF A MEASURE FOR MOTIVATION TO SEEK AND HOLD A JOB.

Unemployment and job-turnover are continuing national problems with pervasive social impact. Public policy based on economic theory has manifestly failed to restore full-employment or to provide the incentive for the unemployed to fill certain types of job vacancies available throughout the recent economic recession. With a public pol- icy guaranteeing minimum subsistence and providing necessary health and social services for all citizens, economic incentive is evidently inadequate to ensure full employment or job stability. The explanation of these problems apparently transcends econ- amic theory. Understanding these problems will also necessitate exam- ination of the effects of such socio-psychological variables as needs, attitudes, and social pressures upon individual decisions to be employ- ed or to stay with an employment status. Since the cumulative effect of these individual employment decisions contributes to problems adverse- ly affecting the public welfare, there is a need for better understand- ing the motivational factors contributing to employment status decisions