Benefit duration, job search behavior and re-employment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lichter, Andreas; Schiprowski, Amelie
• 署名单位: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Bonn; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104326
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Unemployment insurance; job search; Re-employment outcomes; natural experiment

摘要

This paper studies how the potential duration of unemployment benefits affects early job search behavior and re-employment outcomes. We exploit an unexpected reform of the German unemployment insurance (UI) scheme in 2008, which increased the potential benefit duration from 12 to 15 months for benefit recipients of age 50 to 54. Based on detailed survey data and a difference-in-differences design, we estimate that one additional month of potential benefits reduces early job applications by around 10%. Using social security data, we further find that the extension of benefits increases the average nonemployment duration of individuals entering UI after the reform. Among individuals who got treated at later stages of their unemployment spell, the increased UI coverage does not appear to come at the cost of longer nonemployment. A cautious back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals substantial job finding returns to early search effort. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.