scholarly journals Four Decades of Declining Federal Leadership in the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Wandner
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
State Unemployment

Unemployment Insurance

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Nackerud
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Federal State ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
Old Age Assistance ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
Franklin Roosevelt ◽  
Critical Coverage

In response to massive unemployment, in 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt charged members of the Committee on Economic Security to create a “cradle to grave” social-security system. The resultant Social Security Act of 1935 had the Unemployment Insurance (UE) program as its cornerstone. While Congress and the general public were more interested in old-age assistance, members of the Committee on Economic Security and their staff felt the Unemployment Insurance program was the most important element of the entire legislation. The program was designed to address unemployment caused by economic conditions and to regulate industrial employment. The Unemployment Insurance program, a federal–state partnership, has a number of critical coverage criteria. The importance of the Unemployment Insurance program and the complexity of interpreting both federal and state laws cannot be overstated.

scholarly journals Unemployment Insurance: Strengthening the Relationship between Theory and Policy

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Nicholson ◽  
Karen Needels
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
Complex Program ◽  
Unemployment Insurance System ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
The Relationship

Ever since the U.S. federal–state system of unemployment insurance was founded in the 1930s, it has provided partial, temporary replacement of wages to eligible workers who lose jobs “through no fault of their own” (as determined by state-level regulations). Unemployment insurance is one of the largest social insurance programs in the United States, with benefits paid totaling about $34 billion in 2004. Economic theory can help us understand the challenges this complex program is likely to face over the next few years. We begin by summarizing the salient characteristics of the unemployment insurance program and then examine the theoretical and econometric research. Much of this research revolves around the main goals of the program, which include: 1) sustaining consumption for workers and their families; 2) helping recipients to make efficient job choices during a period of financial stress; and 3) minimizing the adverse incentives that may accompany partial wage replacement. Of course, these goals can come into conflict—for example, if replacing wages for an unemployed worker also discourages that worker from aggressively searching for or accepting a new job—and our discussion will focus on these conflicts. In conclusion, we address the key policy issues that the unemployment insurance system is likely to face in upcoming years and ways policymakers may be able to use economic analysis to adjust the program so that it remains effective in addressing the needs of unemployed workers.

scholarly journals Who is Covered by Unemployment Insurance?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Unemployment Compensation ◽  
Younger Workers ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Part Time ◽  
State Unemployment ◽  
Compensation Program

Although the Federal State Unemployment Compensation Program (UI) is designed to insure U.S. workers against the economic risk of job loss, there is little information available about the characteristics of employed workers who are covered by the program (i.e., who would be eligible for benefits if they became unemployed). Knowing more about these workers can improve current understanding of the extent to which the UI program is meeting the needs of workers in the modern economy and can help researchers and policymakers identify ways to make the program more effective. To contribute to research in this area, this paper uses data from the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and probit regression analysis to document rates of UI coverage by major demographic and job groups. I find that 95 percent of employed workers with prior labor-force experience are covered by UI. However, consistent with prior literature on the characteristics of UI recipients, I find gaps in UI coverage for women, younger workers, less-educated workers, part-time workers, and workers in some service-related industries and occupations.

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.

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