In the context of a longitudinal investigation of the physical and mental health consequences of involuntary job loss, it is hypothesized that social supports modify the relationship between unemployment stress and health responses. As a result of two plant shutdowns, 100 stably employed, married men were interviewed at five stages over a two-year period. Social support was measured by a 13-item index covering the extent of supportive and affiliative relations with wife, friends and relatives. The rural unemployed evidenced a significantly higher level of social support than did the urban unemployed, a difference probably due to the strength of ethnic ties in the small community and a more concerned social milieu. No differences between the supported and unsupported were found with respect to weeks unemployed or to actual economic deprivation. However, while unemployed, the unsupported evidenced significantly higher elevations and more changes in measures of cholesterol, illness symptoms and affective response than did the supported. While health differences between supported and unsupported populations under stress are commonly interpreted as evidence that support buffers the effects of life stress, it is argued that these and other study findings demonstrate the exacerbation of life stress by a low sense of social support.