Job Loss, Unemployment, and Families

The detrimental effects of job loss and unemployment are not limited to the unemployed worker but ripple out to affect those closest to him or her. These ripple effects most notably impact the unemployed worker’s family, including a spouse or partner and/or children. In this chapter, we summarize previous research related to the impacts on marital or partner relationships and families and the particular effects of unemployment on children. For couples and families, we explore the financial or economic stressors and strain brought about by job loss; the direct, crossover, and relationship quality effects of stress and reduced mental health among unemployed workers and their spouses; protective resources for coping with job loss, such as social support and family resilience; and the social roles and identity of the unemployed worker. For children, we focus on mental health, child development, and educational/human capital attainment. We then offer suggestions for future research on families facing unemployment.

Searching, Matching, And Unemployment Compensation In Search Equilibrium

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 34.8pt 0pt 37.05pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In search equilibrium model, this paper demonstrates and characterizes the properties of steady state equilibrium of wage, unemployment compensation, entry fee, and taxes. Our research is based on the behavior of a job seeking, unemployed worker with the probability of contact rate of both sides, which may affect the entry of unfilled vacancies and the level of unemployment (U). The steady-state shows that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">a reduction in the severity of search friction, m₀</span></span><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">&shy;</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, raises the equilibrium values of </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">the probability of contact rates(</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">&mu;*and </span></span><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">h</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">* ) and lower the level of unemployment (U) and the number of vacancies(V). An increase in either in the level of output, Y, or decrease in </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">unemployment compensation, entry fee, and tax rate, increase in the number of unfilled vacancies, V*, makes it easier for workers to find jobs (&mu;* rises and U falls) and more difficult for vacancies to find workers(</span></span><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">h</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">* falls). </span></span></p>

Compulsion in active labour market programmes

This paper examines compulsion in active labour market programmes (ALMP). When an unemployed worker has to participate in a programme in order to remain eligible for benefits there are two seperate effects. First, there is the treatment effect, i.e. the programme makes the worker more attractive for a potential employer or makes search more efficient, thus helping the unemployed worker to find a job more quickly. Second, there is the compulsion effect, i.e. because the worker has to attend the programme his value of being unemployed drops and he is stimulated to find a job more quickly. So, both effects induce the worker to find a job more quickly. The difference between the treatment effect and the compulsion effect concerns the quality of the post-unemployment job. The treatment effect improves the quality; the compulsion effect lowers the quality of post-unemployment jobs.