Eating Habits and Employment

A new paper is out on from the National bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

HOW DOES THE BUSINESS CYCLE AFFECT EATING HABITS?
Dhaval M. Dave
Inas Rashad Kelly
Working Paper 16638
http://www.nber.org/papers/w16638

Essentially, the authors have found:

"Estimates, based on fixed effects methodologies, indicate that a higher risk of unemployment is associated with reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables and increased consumption of “unhealthy” foods such as snacks and fast food."

Looking through the data indicates less milk is consumed. So, perhaps the decline in milk consumption is associated with lack of jobs - logical.

According to the BLS:

In November employers took 1,586 mass layoff actions involving 152,816 workers. Layoff events decreased by 65 from the prior month, while initial claims increased by 4,757. Manufacturing accounted for 354 events, resulting in 39,465 initial claims.