Title
Firms and Unemployment Insurance Take-Up Rates
Project Dates
04/25/2018 -
Description
Low and declining unemployment insurance (UI) take-up rates have long puzzled policy-makers and economists, and research to date has not convincingly identified the main reasons for low UI participation. One untested hypotheses is that, because the UI payroll tax is experience-rated at the level of the employer, employers systematically discourage workers from claiming UI in order to keep their UI payroll tax rates relatively low. This project uses UI tax records and employer-level data on UI claims and appeals to obtain evidence on whether employer behavior plays an important role in the claiming behavior of job losers. This project is joint work with Isaac Sorkin (Stanford University), who is a consultant.
Subject Area
UNEMPLOYMENT, DISABILITY, and INCOME SUPPORT PROGRAMS; Unemployment insurance