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Recent Extensions of U.S. Unemployment Benefits: Search Responses in Alternative Labor Market States

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  • Valletta, Robert G.

    (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)

Abstract

In response to the 2007-09 “Great Recession,” the maximum duration of U.S. unemployment benefits was increased from the normal level of 26 weeks to an unprecedented 99 weeks. I estimate the impact of these extensions on job search, comparing them with the more limited extensions associated with the milder 2001 recession. The analyses rely on monthly matched microdata from the Current Population Survey. I find that a 10-week extension of UI benefits raises unemployment duration by about 1.5 weeks, with little variation across the two episodes. This estimate lies in the middle-to-upper end of the range of past estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Valletta, Robert G., 2014. "Recent Extensions of U.S. Unemployment Benefits: Search Responses in Alternative Labor Market States," IZA Discussion Papers 8247, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8247
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Jesse Rothstein & Robert G. Valletta, 2017. "Scraping by: Income and Program Participation After the Loss of Extended Unemployment Benefits," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 880-908, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Robert G. Valletta & Mary Yilma, 2024. "Enhanced Unemployment Insurance Benefits in the United States during COVID-19: Equity and Efficiency," Working Paper Series 2024-15, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    2. Serdar Birinci & Kurt Gerrard See, 2018. "How Should Unemployment Insurance vary over the Business Cycle?," 2018 Meeting Papers 69, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    3. Jesse Rothstein & Robert G. Valletta, 2017. "Scraping by: Income and Program Participation After the Loss of Extended Unemployment Benefits," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 880-908, September.
    4. Gerard Domènech-Arumí & Silvia Vannutelli, 2025. "Bringing Them In or Pushing Them Out? The Labor Market Effects of Pro-Cyclical Unemployment Assistance Changes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 324-337, March.
    5. Arranz, José M. & García-Serrano, Carlos, 2023. "Assistance benefits and unemployment outflows of the elderly unemployed: The impact of a law change," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    6. Lei Fang & Jun Nie & Zoe Xie, 2020. "Unemployment Insurance during a Pandemic," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2020-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    7. Camille Landais & Pascal Michaillat & Emmanuel Saez, 2018. "A Macroeconomic Approach to Optimal Unemployment Insurance: Applications," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 182-216, May.
    8. Gehrke, Britta & Weber, Enzo, 2018. "Identifying asymmetric effects of labor market reforms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 18-40.
    9. Trine Filges & Anders Bruun Jonassen & Anne‐Marie Klint Jørgensen, 2018. "Reducing unemployment benefit duration to increase job finding rates: a systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 1-194.
    10. Lester Lusher & Geoffrey C. Schnorr & Rebecca L.C. Taylor, 2022. "Unemployment Insurance as a Worker Indiscipline Device? Evidence from Scanner Data," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 285-319, April.
    11. Kyyrä, Tomi & Pesola, Hanna & Rissanen, Aarne, 2017. "Unemployment Insurance in Finland: A Review of Recent Changes and Empirical Evidence on Behavioral Responses," Research Reports 184, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Clemens, Michael A., 2017. "The Effect of Occupational Visas on Native Employment: Evidence from Labor Supply to Farm Jobs in the Great Recession," IZA Discussion Papers 10492, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Ajit Zacharias & Thomas Masterson & Fernando Rios-Avila, 2018. "Stagnating Economic Well-Being and Unrelenting Inequality: Post-2000 Trends in the United States," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_146, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. Andrew C. Johnston & Alexandre Mas, 2018. "Potential Unemployment Insurance Duration and Labor Supply: The Individual and Market-Level Response to a Benefit Cut," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(6), pages 2480-2522.
    15. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Helen Levy & Robert G. Valletta, 2021. "Medicaid Expansion and the Unemployed," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(S2), pages 575-617.
    16. Serdar Birinci & Kurt See, 2023. "Labor Market Responses to Unemployment Insurance: The Role of Heterogeneity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 388-430, July.
    17. Serdar Birinci & Kurt See, 2019. "Labor Market Responses to Unemployment Insurance: The Role of Heterogeneity," Working Papers 2019-022, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised Nov 2021.
    18. Marta C. Lopes, 2022. "A review on the elasticity of unemployment duration to the potential duration of unemployment benefits," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1212-1224, September.
    19. Marco Di Maggio & Amir Kermani, 2016. "The Importance of Unemployment Insurance as an Automatic Stabilizer," NBER Working Papers 22625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Michael A. Clemens, 2022. "The effect of seasonal work visas on native employment: Evidence from US farm work in the Great Recession," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1348-1374, November.
    21. Johannes F. Schmieder & Till von Wachter, 2016. "The Effects of Unemployment Insurance Benefits: New Evidence and Interpretation," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 547-581, October.
    22. Bernardus Van Doornik & David Schoenherr & Janis Skrastins, 2018. "Unemployment Insurance, Strategic Unemployment and Firm-Worker Collusion," Working Papers Series 483, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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