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

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 e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American economic review 2015-05, Vol.105 (5), p.171-176
Main Authors: Farber, Henry S., Rothstein, Jesse, Valletta, Robert G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Central banks
Economic analysis
Economic benefits
Economic conditions
Economic models
Economic recessions
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Employment
Great Recession
HOW DID THE SAFETY NET PERFORM DURING THE GREAT RECESSION
Labor force
Labor market
Labor markets
Labour force
Recession
Recessions
Rollbacks
Studies
Unemployment
Unemployment benefits
Unemployment insurance
Unemployment rates
Workforce
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:0002-8282
1944-7981
DOI:10.1257/aer.p20151088