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Racial Inequality in Unemployment Insurance Receipt and Take-Up

Author

Listed:
  • Elira Kuka
  • Bryan A. Stuart

Abstract

This paper studies differences in receipt and take-up of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits among white and Black individuals. We combine state-level UI regulations with data containing detailed information on individuals’ work history and UI receipt. Black individuals who separate from a job are 24% less likely to receive UI than whites. The UI receipt gap stems primarily from lower take-up of UI benefits among likely eligible individuals, as opposed to differences in benefit eligibility. Statistical decompositions indicate that about one-half of the take-up gap is explained by Black workers’ lower pre-unemployment earnings and higher tendency to live in the South.

Suggested Citation

  • Elira Kuka & Bryan A. Stuart, 2021. "Racial Inequality in Unemployment Insurance Receipt and Take-Up," NBER Working Papers 29595, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29595
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    Cited by:

    1. Meyer, Bruce D. & Mittag, Nikolas & Wu, Derek, 2024. "Race, Ethnicity, and Measurement Error," IZA Discussion Papers 17349, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Bruce D. Meyer & Nikolas Mittag & Derek Wu, 2024. "Race, Ethnicity, and Measurement Error," NBER Chapters, in: Race, Ethnicity, and Economic Statistics for the 21st Century, pages 327-381, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Linchi Hsu & Alexander Henke, 2024. "Unemployment insurance generosity and intimate partner violence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1461-1481, December.
    4. Kawano, Laura & LaLumia, Sara & Ramnath, Shanthi & Stevens, Michael, 2025. "Who picks up the slack? Understanding spousal responses to unemployment spells," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. East, Chloe N. & Simon, David, 2024. "The safety net and job loss: How much insurance do public programs provide?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    6. Wursten, Jesse & Reich, Michael, 2023. "Racial inequality in frictional labor markets: Evidence from minimum wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Márton Csillag & Balázs Munkácsy & Ágota Scharle, 2023. "Does cutting the value of unemployment insurance benefits affect take-up? Evidence from Hungary," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2336, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    8. Andrew Fieldhouse & Sean Howard & Mr. Christoffer Koch & David Munro, 2022. "A New Claims-Based Unemployment Dataset: Application to Postwar Recoveries Across U.S. States," IMF Working Papers 2022/117, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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