IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucy/cypeua/08-2015.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The labor market effects of U.S. reemployment programs during the great recession

Author

Listed:
  • Marios Michaelides
  • Peter Mueser

Abstract

This paper examines four experimental evaluations of U.S. reemployment programs targeting Unemployment Insurance (UI) recipients during the Great Recession. Results show that, regardless of their specific requirements, the four programs led to shorter UI spells, UI savings that exceeded program costs, and improved employment rates and earnings. Program success was partly attributable to threat effects, occurring because some participants exited UI early to avoid program participation. Also, programs that conducted eligibility reviews reduced UI fraud, pushing job-ready or ineligible participants to exit UI and return to employment sooner. In addition to these effects, results suggest that job search services may have substantial direct value. The program that combined the eligibility review with mandatory job-counselling services produced greater effects than the other programs, and our analyses suggest that this is because services helped participants improve their job search. These findings show that the labor market effects of reemployment programs occur even during an economic downturn, and they provide important policy guidance on the types of programs that are likely to be most effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Marios Michaelides & Peter Mueser, 2015. "The labor market effects of U.S. reemployment programs during the great recession," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 08-2015, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:08-2015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.econ.ucy.ac.cy/RePEc/papers/08-15.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luc Behaghel & Bruno Cr?pon & Marc Gurgand, 2014. "Private and Public Provision of Counseling to Job Seekers: Evidence from a Large Controlled Experiment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 142-174, October.
    2. Krug, Gerhard & Stephan, Gesine, 2013. "Is the Contracting-Out of Intensive Placement Services More Effective than Provision by the PES? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 7403, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:4174 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:mpr:mprres:2588 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Dan A. Black & Jeffrey A. Smith & Mark C. Berger & Brett J. Noel, 2003. "Is the Threat of Reemployment Services More Effective Than the Services Themselves? Evidence from Random Assignment in the UI System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1313-1327, September.
    6. Jonas Maibom & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2017. "Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Early Meetings and Activation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(3), pages 541-570, July.
    7. Paul T. Decker & Robert B. Olsen & Lance Freeman & Daniel H. Klepinger, 2000. "Assisting Unemployment Insurance Claimants: The Long-Term Impacts of the Job Search Assistance Demonstration," Mathematica Policy Research Reports a91d342072d34545ba240f269, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. Patricia Anderson & Walter Corson & Paul Decker, "undated". "The New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration Project: Follow-Up Report," Mathematica Policy Research Reports eba060d41b8145b5a230fa76b, Mathematica Policy Research.
    9. repec:mpr:mprres:1539 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Walter Corson & Joshua Haimson, 1996. "The New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration Project: Six-Year Follow-up and Summary Report," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 284c210e7df54900927e9d81c, Mathematica Policy Research.
    11. Graversen, Brian Krogh & van Ours, Jan C., 2008. "How to help unemployed find jobs quickly: Experimental evidence from a mandatory activation program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(10-11), pages 2020-2035, October.
    12. Stephen A. Wandner, 2010. "Solving the Reemployment Puzzle: From Research to Policy," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number srep, August.
    13. Mark C. Berger & Dan Black & Jeffrey Smith, 2000. "Evaluating Profiling as a Means of Allocating Government Services," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 200018, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    14. Stephen A. Wandner & Randall W. Eberts, "undated". "Public workforce programs during the Great Recession," Upjohn Working Papers sawrwe14, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    15. Peter Dolton & Donal O'Neill, 2002. "The Long-Run Effects of Unemployment Monitoring and Work-Search Programs: Experimental Evidence from the United Kingdom," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(2), pages 381-403, Part.
    16. Paul T. Decker & Robert B. Olsen & Lance Freeman & Daniel H. Klepinger, 2000. "Assisting Unemployment Insurance Claimants: The Long-Term Impacts of the Job Search Assistance Demonstration, Data Set," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 8d181cb5368941769e6f30d8c, Mathematica Policy Research.
    17. Cees Gorter & Guyonne R. J. Kalb, 1996. "Estimating the Effect of Counseling and Monitoring the Unemployed Using a Job Search Model," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(3), pages 590-610.
    18. Christopher J. O'Leary & Stephen A. Wandner, 2005. "Do Job Search Rules and Reemployment Services Reduce Insured Unemployment?," Upjohn Working Papers 05-112, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    19. Bruce D. Meyer, 1995. "Lessons from the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 91-131, March.
    20. Daniel H. Klepinger & Terry R. Johnson & Jutta M. Joesch, 2002. "Effects of Unemployment Insurance Work-Search Requirements: The Maryland Experiment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(1), pages 3-22, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dayanand S. Manoli & Marios Michaelides & Ankur Patel, 2018. "Long-Term and Heterogeneous Effects of Job-Search Assistance," NBER Working Papers 24422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marios Michaelides & Peter Mueser, 2020. "The Labor Market Effects of US Reemployment Policy: Lessons from an Analysis of Four Programs during the Great Recession," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1099-1140.
    2. Marios Michaelides & Peter Mueser, 2018. "Are Reemployment Services Effective? Experimental Evidence from the Great Recession," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 546-570, June.
    3. Peter Mueser & Marios Michaelides, 2015. "Are Reemployment Services Effective? Experimental Evidence from the Great Recession (WP 15-09 is now WP 18-04)," Working Papers 1509, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised Feb 2018.
    4. Dayanand S. Manoli & Marios Michaelides & Ankur Patel, 2018. "Long-Term and Heterogeneous Effects of Job-Search Assistance," NBER Working Papers 24422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Marios Michaelides & Peter Mueser & Jeffrey Smith, 2019. "Youth Unemployment and U.S. Job Search Assistance Policy during the Great Recession," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 13-2019, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    6. Lalive, Rafael & Cottier, Lionel & Flueckiger, Yves & Kempeneers, Pierre, 2018. "Does Job Search Assistance Really Raise Employment?," CEPR Discussion Papers 13133, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Bart Cockx & Stijn Baert, 2015. "Contracting Out Mandatory Counselling and Training for Long-Term Unemployed. Private For-Profit or Non-Profit, or Keep it Public?," CESifo Working Paper Series 5587, CESifo.
    8. Manning, Alan, 2009. "You can't always get what you want: The impact of the UK Jobseeker's Allowance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 239-250, June.
    9. van der Klaauw, Bas & Ziegler, Lennart, 2019. "A Field Experiment on Labor Market Speeddates for Unemployed Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 12140, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Graversen, B.K. & van Ours, J.C., 2009. "How a Mandatory Activation Program Reduces Unemployment Durations : The Effects of Distance," Other publications TiSEM 0071ddbd-1c91-4a52-b1ac-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Alexander Murray, 2010. "The State of Knowledge on the Role and Impact of Labour Market Information: A Survey of the International Evidence," CSLS Research Reports 2010-05, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    12. Schmidl, Ricarda, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Early Vacancy Information in the Presence of Monitoring and ALMP," IZA Discussion Papers 9575, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. van Ours, Jan C. & Krogh Graversen, Brian, 2009. "How a Mandatory Activation Program Reduces Unemployment Durations; the Effects of Distance," CEPR Discussion Papers 7233, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Andersson, Josefine, 2018. "Early counselling of displaced workers - effects of collectively funded job search assistance," Working Paper Series 2018:22, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    15. Dan A. Black & Jeffrey A. Smith & Mark C. Berger & Brett J. Noel, 2002. "Is the Threat of Reemployment Services More Effective than the Services Themselves? Experimental Evidence from the UI System," NBER Working Papers 8825, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Hägglund, Pathric, 2009. "Experimental evidence from intensified placement efforts among unemployed in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2009:16, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    17. Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe & Andrey Launov & Bruno Van der Linden, 2018. "Imperfect Monitoring of Job Search: Structural Estimation and Policy Design," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 75-120.
    18. Graversen, B.K. & van Ours, J.C., 2006. "How to Help Unemployed Find Jobs Quickly : Experimental Evidence from a Mandatory Activation Program," Discussion Paper 2006-126, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    19. Pieter Gautier & Paul Muller & Bas van der Klaauw & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2018. "Estimating Equilibrium Effects of Job Search Assistance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 1073-1125.
    20. Rosholm, Michael, 2008. "Experimental Evidence on the Nature of the Danish Employment Miracle," Working Papers 08-14, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great recession; job search services; eligibility review; unemployment; Unemployment insurance; program evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucy:cypeua:08-2015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ucy.ac.cy/econ/?lang=en .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.