Unemployment, economic instability, and their implications for well-being
Unemployment can have adverse effects on the economy and on the well-being and life satisfaction of those who are out of work. But, what factors prolong unemployment? And, which measures help shorten unemployment spells and enable people to find more stable jobs that better match their skills and qualifications?
While many countries have some form of unemployment insurance system, with welfare payments made by governments to people who are out of work, there is considerable variation in how much is paid, for how long, and in what circumstances. As the effects of theCovid-19 pandemiccontinue to be felt across the globe, how countries choose to manage their growing numbers of unemployed will affect the well-being and financial stability of millions and impact the resilience of their economies in the years ahead.
参见我们的页面青年失业问题.
Listen totalks on this topicby Alex Bryson and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve from January 23, 2018.
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Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment?Updated
Time-limited benefits may yield significant welfare gains and help underemployed part-time workers move to full-time employment
Susanne Ek Spector, June 2022A considerable share of the labor force consists of underemployed part-time workers: employed workers who, for various reasons, are unable to work as much as they would like to. Offering unemployment benefits to part-time unemployed workers is controversial. On the one hand, such benefits can strengthen incentives to take a part-time job rather than remain fully unemployed, thus raising the probability of obtaining at least some employment. On the other hand, these benefits weaken incentives for part-time workers to look for full-time employment. It is also difficult to distinguish people who work part-time by choice from those who do so involuntarily.MoreLess -
The dynamics of training programs for the unemployedUpdated
Job search training and occupational skills training are both effective
Aderonke Osikominu, December 2021Time plays an important role in both the design and interpretation of evaluation studies of training programs. While the start and duration of a training program are closely linked to the evolution of job opportunities, the impact of training programs in the short and longer term changes over time. Neglecting these “dynamics” could lead to an unduly negative assessment of the effects of certain training schemes. Therefore, a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between different types of training and their respective labor market outcomes is essential for a better design and interpretation of evaluation studies.MoreLess -
Health effects of job insecurityUpdated
Job insecurity adversely affects health, but employability policies and otherwise better job quality can mitigate the effects
Francis Green, December 2020The fear of unemployment has increased around the world in the wake of Covid-19. Research has shown that job insecurity affects both mental and physical health, though the effects are lower when employees are easily re-employable. The detrimental effects of job insecurity could be partly mitigated if employers improved other aspects of job quality that support better health. But as job insecurity is felt by many more people than just the unemployed, the negative health effects during recessions are multiplied and extend through the majority of the population. This reinforces the need for effective, stabilising macroeconomic policies, most especially at this time of pandemic.MoreLess -
The impact of monitoring and sanctioning on unemployment exit and job-finding ratesUpdated
Job search monitoring and benefit sanctions generally reduce unemployment duration and boost entry to employment in the short term
Duncan McVicar, June 2020失业救济减少搜索的动机for a job. Policymakers have responded to this behavior by setting minimum job search requirements, by monitoring to check that unemployment benefit recipients are engaged in the appropriate level of job search activity, and by imposing sanctions for infractions. Empirical studies consistently show that job search monitoring and benefit sanctions reduce unemployment duration and increase job entry in the short term. However, there is some evidence that longer-term effects of benefit sanctions may be negative.MoreLess -
Men without work: A global well-being and ill-being comparison
The number of prime-age males outside the labor force is increasing worldwide, with worrying results
Carol Graham Sergio Pinto, October 2019The global economy is full of progress paradoxes. Improvements in technology, reducing poverty, and increasing life expectancy coexist with persistent poverty in the poorest countries and increasing inequality and unhappiness in many wealthy ones. A key driver of the latter is the decline in the status and wages of low-skilled labor, with an increasing percentage of prime-aged men (and to a lesser extent women) simply dropping out of the labor force. The trend is starkest in the US, though frustration in this same cohort is also prevalent in Europe, and it is reflected in voting patterns in both contexts.MoreLess -
Compensating displaced workers
Uncoordinated unemployment insurance and severance pay do a poor job of insuring against losses resulting from job displacement
Donald O. Parsons, September 2018Job displacement poses a serious earnings threat to long-tenured workers through unemployment spells and lower re-employment wages. The prevailing method of insuring job displacement losses involves an uncoordinated combination of unemployment insurance and severance pay. Less developed countries often rely exclusively on public mandating of employer severance pay due to the administrative complexity of unemployment insurance systems. If both options are operational, systematic integration of the two is important, although perhaps not possible if severance pay is voluntarily provided.MoreLess