How the American Unemployment System Failed
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/business/economy/unemployment-insurance.html
Related research:
DO UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS IMPROVE MATCH QUALITY? EVIDENCE FROM RECENT U.S. RECESSIONS [NBER Working Paper No. 27574]
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27574/w27574.pdf
ABSTRACT
We present new evidence on the impact of more generous unemployment insurance (UI) on workers’ ability to find jobs better suited to their skills. Using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data, we find the UI extensions introduced in the U.S. improved the quality of worker- job matches. Using Current Population Survey data, we also find that longer UI benefit durations decrease the mismatch between workers’ educational attainments and the educational requirements of jobs. We find bigger effects of UI on match quality for those more likely to be liquidity-constrained women, non-whites and less-educated workers-,suggesting UI extensions improve the functioning of the labor market.
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Unemployment Insurance Generosity and Aggregate Employment [AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL: ECONOMIC POLICY (FORTHCOMING)]
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of unemployment insurance (UI) on aggregate employment by exploiting cross-state variation in the maximum benefit duration during the Great Recession. Comparing adjacent counties located in neighboring states, there is no statistically significant impact of increasing UI generosity on aggregate employment. Point estimates are uniformly small in magnitude, and the most precise estimates rule out employment-to-population ratio reductions in excess of 0.35 percentage points from the UI extension. The results contrast with the negative effects implied by most micro-level labor supply studies and are consistent with both job rationing and aggregate demand channels.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/business/economy/unemployment-insurance.html
DO UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS IMPROVE MATCH QUALITY? EVIDENCE FROM RECENT U.S. RECESSIONS [NBER Working Paper No. 27574]
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27574/w27574.pdf
ABSTRACT
We present new evidence on the impact of more generous unemployment insurance (UI) on workers’ ability to find jobs better suited to their skills. Using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data, we find the UI extensions introduced in the U.S. improved the quality of worker- job matches. Using Current Population Survey data, we also find that longer UI benefit durations decrease the mismatch between workers’ educational attainments and the educational requirements of jobs. We find bigger effects of UI on match quality for those more likely to be liquidity-constrained women, non-whites and less-educated workers-,suggesting UI extensions improve the functioning of the labor market.
-------------------------------
Unemployment Insurance Generosity and Aggregate Employment [AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL: ECONOMIC POLICY (FORTHCOMING)]
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of unemployment insurance (UI) on aggregate employment by exploiting cross-state variation in the maximum benefit duration during the Great Recession. Comparing adjacent counties located in neighboring states, there is no statistically significant impact of increasing UI generosity on aggregate employment. Point estimates are uniformly small in magnitude, and the most precise estimates rule out employment-to-population ratio reductions in excess of 0.35 percentage points from the UI extension. The results contrast with the negative effects implied by most micro-level labor supply studies and are consistent with both job rationing and aggregate demand channels.