Unemployment Insurance and Job Quits

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Labor Economics
Year: 2004
Volume: 22
Issue: 1
Pages: 159-188

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We investigate an unexplored avenue through which unemployment insurance increases unemployment. As unemployment insurance benefits rise, workers lose incentive to "preempt" impending layoffs by changing jobs. We formalize this prediction in a job search model and investigate it empirically by estimating a proportional hazard model with data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, using state- and year-specific algorithms to compute each worker's expected unemployment insurance benefits. Our estimates reveal that an exogenous increase in benefits deters job quits by a small but statistically significant amount.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jlabec:v:22:y:2004:i:1:p:159-188
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25