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The Effect of Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits: Evidence from the 2012-2013 Phase-Out

Author

Listed:
  • Farber, Henry S

    () (Princeton University)

  • Rothstein, Jesse

    () (University of California, Berkeley)

  • Valletta, Robert G.

    () (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)

Abstract

Unemployment Insurance benefit durations were extended during the Great Recession, reaching 99 weeks for most recipients. The extensions were rolled back and eventually terminated by the end of 2013. Using matched CPS data from 2008-2014, we estimate the effect of extended benefits on unemployment exits separately during the earlier period of benefit expansion and the later period of rollback. In both periods, we find little or no effect on job-finding but a reduction in labor force exits due to benefit availability. We estimate that the rollbacks reduced the labor force participation rate by about 0.1 percentage point in early 2014.

Suggested Citation

  • Farber, Henry S & Rothstein, Jesse & Valletta, Robert G., 2015. "The Effect of Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits: Evidence from the 2012-2013 Phase-Out," IZA Discussion Papers 8784, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8784
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henry S. Farber & Robert G. Valletta, 2015. "Do Extended Unemployment Benefits Lengthen Unemployment Spells?: Evidence from Recent Cycles in the U.S. Labor Market," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(4), pages 873-909.
    2. David Card & Raj Chetty & Andrea Weber, 2007. "The Spike at Benefit Exhaustion: Leaving the Unemployment System or Starting a New Job?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 113-118, May.
    3. Jesse Rothstein, 2011. "Unemployment Insurance and Job Search in the Great Recession," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 42(2 (Fall)), pages 143-213.
    4. Kory Kroft & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2016. "Should Unemployment Insurance Vary with the Unemployment Rate? Theory and Evidence," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 83(3), pages 1092-1124.
    5. Marcus Hagedorn & Fatih Karahan & Iourii Manovskii & Kurt Mitman, 2013. "Unemployment Benefits and Unemployment in the Great Recession: The Role of Macro Effects," NBER Working Papers 19499, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Abowd, John M & Zellner, Arnold, 1985. "Estimating Gross Labor-Force Flows," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(3), pages 254-283, June.
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The effect of extended unemployment insurance benefits: evidence from the 2012-2013 phase-out
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2015-02-20 22:51:15

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Karahan, Fatih & Mitman, Kurt & Moore, Brendan, 2019. "Individual and Market-Level Effects of UI Policies: Evidence from Missouri," CEPR Discussion Papers 14158, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Helen Levy & Robert G. Valletta, 2019. "Medicaid Expansion and the Unemployed," Working Paper Series 2019-29, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    3. Christopher J. O’Leary & Burt S. Barnow & Karolien Lenaerts, 2020. "Lessons from the American federal‐state unemployment insurance system for a European unemployment benefits system," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(1), pages 3-34, January.
    4. Boone, Christopher & Dube, Arindrajit & Goodman, Lucas & Kaplan, Ethan, 2016. "Unemployment Insurance Generosity and Aggregate Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 10439, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sansale, Rebecca & DeLoach, Stephen B. & Kurt, Mark, 2019. "Unemployment duration and the personalities of young adults workers," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-11.
    6. Guo, Audrey, 2020. "The Effects of Unemployment Insurance Taxation on Multi-Establishment Firms," MPRA Paper 97919, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Bennett, Patrick & Ouazad, Amine, 2018. "Job Displacement, Unemployment, and Crime: Evidence from Danish Microdata and Reforms," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 32/2018, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics, revised 21 Dec 2018.
    8. 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.
    9. Xu, Wenjian, 2018. "Entrepreneurship among the Unemployed: the Effect of Unemployment Benefit," SocArXiv 5dahz, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    extended unemployment benefits; job search; labor force;

    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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