Yes. You have less to lose.

Mass shootings happen because people get to the extreme point of disconnection where they just say "burn it all, I'm going out in a blaze..." These aren't people that feel connected to anything (coworkers, family, schoolmates, teams).

Even if other things are lacking, employment can bring connection.

Unemployment rates:

USA: 3.4% Spain: 13.1% Greece: 11.6% Italy: 7.8% Cypus: 7.7% [...] Malta: 3.2% Germany: 2.9% Poland: 2.9% Czechia: 2.3%

That'll be some gymnastics.

USA unemployment is 7,4% [1]. Spain, Greece, Italy's unemployment is highly seasonal - in summer it drops to almost 0%, meaning the majority of the population has some (untaxed) income to keep them afloat through the entire year.

[1] https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_u_6_unemployment_rate_unad...

> USA unemployment is 7,4%

The not commonly used U-6 is, yeah, but even your link mentions that U-3 is commonly used, and why would you compare different unemployment rates between countries? Here [1] is Destatis from December 2022 with data for all EU countries and the US for comparison.

> Spain, Greece, Italy's unemployment is highly seasonal - in summer it drops to almost 0%

In June 2022, Spain had 12.6% (2021: 15.3%), Greece had 12.3% (15.0%) and Italy 8.1% (9.4%), see [2] from Eurostat.

Is this going to turn into a session of frantic googling to find numbers that support your claim that you based upon feelings and prejudices instead of facts?

[1] https://www.destatis.de/Europa/EN/Topic/Population-Labour-So...

[2] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/14675433/3-0...

It doesn't really matter either way. Unemployed people in most EU countries do have access to healthcare, benefits that keep them from starving, etc.

Not a paradise, but not a hellhole.

Certainly, though that typically depends on where you live, and as a general rule, social security gets better the further north you go, and that's also where unemployment is low, while the situation looks tougher in Spain, Italy or Greece.

But that's besides the point, the claim was that employment has something to do with it, not the extent of the welfare state.

Yes, that tends to be true.

On the other hand, a lot of things influence employment beyond labor protection as well.

If you are unemployed in most EU countries you are not at risk of dying because you can't afford healthcare, food and shelter. Less desperation for the unemployed is better for society.

Employment security also helps mental health, you don't need to live in pure anxiety and fear that someone else might take your job next week.

Those are the official numbers after the US changed the way it counts unemployment so as to appear better.

If you go back to the way unemployment was counted before President G. W. Bush, you end up with higher rates.

The current U-6 unemployment rate in the U.S. is 6.6%. That adds back in discouraged workers, workers on long-term unemployment, and workers on part-time employment because of the economy.

European governments commit massive fraud with how they count their unemployment numbers as well, so comparisons are difficult.

Eh, to be fair to his argument, 'unemployment' is just a survey measuring who is actively looking for new employment but can't find it. Most developed countries have a higher rate of prime-age (25-60) employment than the US. I like that metric better, you're just looking nationally at what % of adults are employed overall