The Wealth of the Unemployed

ILR Review ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Gruber
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Financial Assets ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Unemployment Spell ◽  
Unemployment Spells ◽  
The Unemployed

Many studies have investigated the adequacy of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits as a form of income replacement, but few have looked at other resources with which the unemployed can finance their unemployment spells. This paper focuses on one form of resources, own wealth holdings. The author finds that the median worker's financial assets can cover roughly two-thirds of the income loss from an unemployment spell. Wealth holdings vary tremendously, however, and almost one-third of workers are unable to replace even 10% of their income loss. Moreover, predicted wealth holdings decline precipitously with realized unemployment durations, both absolutely and (especially) relative to actual income loss. This finding, together with the finding that individuals who are eligible for more generous UI draw down their wealth more slowly than do others during unemployment spells, suggests that UI benefit adequacy could be increased if the benefits were targeted to those with longer unemployment spells.

scholarly journals Unemployment prevention: The role of Human Resource Management in job-to-job transitions in the event of redundancy

2021 ◽  
pp. 138826272199520
Author(s):  
Irmgard Borghouts – van de Pas ◽  
Mark Bosmans ◽  
Charissa Freese
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Duration ◽  
Job Transitions ◽  
Job Support ◽  
Individual Coaching ◽  
The Social ◽  
Unemployment Spell ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Unemployment Spells ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Job Activities

In downsizing organisations, redundant workers suffer from insecurities about work and income. Social security provides income security to the unemployed in the event of job loss. The role played by employers in unemployment prevention for redundant workers, and the effects on unemployment spells and transitions on the labour market, are neglected in both the social policy and HRM literatures. This article addresses the following question: Which factors play a role in the decision to offer job-to-job support and in determining its effect? This article provides the context for the theoretical assumptions regarding why employers initiate job-to-job measures for redundant employees and distinguishes the different types of measures based on a literature review. Secondly, this article contributes to empirical knowledge in the field of unemployment prevention among employers and the effects of job-to-job activities facilitated by employers on redundant workers’ unemployment spells. A two-wave study was conducted on a sample of 2,258 Dutch redundant workers. The study shows that age, breadwinner status and gender are important predictors of unemployment duration after involuntary dismissal. The findings show that investing in the human capital of redundant workers by providing training and education and individual coaching, for example, are associated with a reduced unemployment spell. In our model, in which we controlled for other variables, we found that when one received training, education or individual coaching shortly before or after the dismissal, one was unemployed for an average of almost three months less.

The Long-Term Effects of UI Extensions on Employment

2012 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 514-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes F Schmieder ◽  
Till von Wachter ◽  
Stefan Bender
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Regression Discontinuity ◽  
Regression Discontinuity Design ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Employment Effects ◽  
Unemployment Spell ◽  
Unemployment Spells

The majority of papers analyzing the employment effects of unemployment insurance (UI) benefit durations focus on the duration of the first unemployment spell. In this paper, we make two contributions. First, we use a regression discontinuity design to analyze the long-term effects of extensions in UI durations. These estimates differ from standard estimates in that they incorporate differences in UI benefit receipt and employment due to recurrent unemployment spells. Second, we derive a welfare formula of UI extensions that incorporates recurrent nonemployment spells.

scholarly journals Who helps the unemployed? Workers’ receipt of public and private transfers

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Anne Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Transfers ◽  
Unemployment Spell ◽  
Demographic Subgroups ◽  
Demographic Distribution ◽  
The Unemployed

AbstractI use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to measure the extent to which an unemployment spell increases the likelihood that a worker receives a cash transfer from family. I examine the prevalence of cash transfers from family, the demographic distribution of unemployed receivers, and the variation between family supported and not family supported spells. I further investigate how this informal, private assistance relates to public transfers from Unemployment Insurance using state-by-year variation in the UI program. I find that unemployment increases the probability a worker receives financial assistance from their family, inclusive of all demographic subgroups, that family cash transfer receipt is growing over time, and is weakly related to UI availability.

scholarly journals Distributive Consequences of Risk Privatization: The Case of the Swedish Unemployment Insurance System

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-235
Author(s):  
Jayeon Lindellee
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
The Public ◽  
Insurance Benefit ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
Unemployment Insurance Benefit ◽  
Income Insurance ◽  
Unemployment Insurance System ◽  
Retail Workers

Abstract The public unemployment insurance program in Sweden has retrenched in terms of its benefit generosity in the last three decades. As a response to this trend, in which an ever-smaller proportion of the previous income of unemployed persons is compensated by public unemployment insurance benefit, complementary income insurance schemes provided by unions have expanded rapidly in the last 15 years, currently covering one half of the working population. What does this change mean for people who need income protection upon unemployment and are more likely to find themselves unemployed or underemployed? By analyzing survey-based benefit recipiency data among retail workers who were unemployed in 2014, this article explores the outcomes of the multi-pillarized unemployment benefit provision system in Sweden. While public unemployment insurance benefit does not fully compensate for the income loss for the majority of retail workers, the promise of a complementary income insurance scheme seems to be illusory for many individuals as they repeatedly oscillate between precarious work and benefits, accompanied by the burden of navigating a complex system.

scholarly journals Optimal Stopping and Utility in a Simple Modelof Unemployment Insurance

Risks ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Jason S. Anquandah ◽  
Leonid V. Bogachev
Keyword(s):  
Simple Model ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Optimal Stopping ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Call Option ◽  
Optimal Stopping Problem ◽  
Optimal Decisions ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
New Jobs

Managing unemployment is one of the key issues in social policies. Unemployment insurance schemes are designed to cushion the financial and morale blow of loss of job but also to encourage the unemployed to seek new jobs more proactively due to the continuous reduction of benefit payments. In the present paper, a simple model of unemployment insurance is proposed with a focus on optimality of the individual’s entry to the scheme. The corresponding optimal stopping problem is solved, and its similarity and differences with the perpetual American call option are discussed. Beyond a purely financial point of view, we argue that in the actuarial context the optimal decisions should take into account other possible preferences through a suitable utility function. Some examples in this direction are worked out.

From looking backwards to forwards: unemployment insurance, France, 2000

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-90
Author(s):  
Magnus Paulsen Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Job Seeking ◽  
Job Offers ◽  
Unemployment Insurance System ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Intense Debate

Chapter 4 presents the reform process of the so-called PARE (‘aid plan for the return to employment’) of the French unemployment insurance system in 2000. The instruments of PARE included an individual contract that would oblige the unemployed to engage in ‘personalised’ job seeking activities while getting access to support such as training courses. Further, PARE strengthened requirements to accept job offers from the job exchange service as well as sanctions upon refusals and contractual infringements. The trade unions were divided in their stance towards this, causing intense debate, especially on the use of sanctions. The reform illustrates how the addition of a rather simple instrument radically changed the moral status of the unemployed.

The Distribution of Unemployment Spells: Canada, 1978–82

ILR Review ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-267
Author(s):  
Charles M. Beach ◽  
S. F. Kaliski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
Micro Data ◽  
Lorenz Curves ◽  
Unemployment Spell ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Unemployment Spells ◽  
Severe Recession

This paper empirically examines entire distributions of unemployment spells according to a novel duration-share approach based on decile shares and Lorenz curves of unemployment. The approach is applied to a Canadian micro-data source akin to the Work Experience Surveys for the United States. The major empirical findings are that long-term unemployment accounts for a very substantial proportion of total weeks of unemployment, despite the short duration of the average spell of unemployment. The structure of unemployment spell distribution differs significantly by gender, age, education, and region; and significant cyclical effects on the distribution of unemployment spells are associated with the severe recession in 1982.

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