Labor Economics Commons^™

A Study Of Claim Resolution Structured Settlement Agreements: Final Report, Marcus Dillender, Kevin Hollenbeck, H. Allan Hunt

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the quality and effectiveness (measured from the perspectives of workers, businesses, and the State of Washington) of structured settlement agreements (SSAs) of workers compensation claims, and to report findings to the state legislature. SSAs were introduced into the state's workers compensation system by legislative action in 2011. The evaluation will include both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Staff members will conduct statistical analysis of claims data and online survey data to garner the perspective of workers. Administrative data will be scrutinized to determine the impact of SSAs on State fund and self-insured employers. …

Climate Change And Occupational Health: Can We Adapt?, Marcus Dillender

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Four Decades Of Declining Federal Leadership In The Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The unemployment insurance (UI) program was established in 1935. Unlike other social insurance programs created by the Social Security Act, it was established as a federal-state program. The federal government initially acted as a strong partner working with state agencies that operate the UI program. Over the past four decades, however, the federal role in the UI program has declined because of reductions in federal resources dedicated to the program and weakening policy leadership and programmatic support. As a result, states operate increasingly divergent UI programs, with many programs providing limited access to the program for experienced unemployed workers who …

Strengths Of The Social Safety Net In The Great Recession: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance And Unemployment Insurance, Christopher J. O'Leary Editor, David W. Stevens Editor, Stephen A. Wandner, Michael Wiseman Editor

Upjohn Press

The contributors in this book use administrative data from six states from before, during, and after the Great Recession to gauge the degree to which Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) and Unemployment Insurance (UI) interacted. They also recommend ways that the program policies could be altered to better serve those suffering hardship as a result of future economic downturns.

Can Antipoverty Policies Change Neighborhood Outcomes In The Long Run?, Brian J. Asquith

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Longer-Run Effects Of Antipoverty Policies On Disadvantaged Neighborhoods, David Neumark, Brian J. Asquith, Brittany Bass

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We estimate the longer-run effects of minimum wages, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and welfare on key economic indicators of economic self-sufficiency in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We find that the longer-run effects of the EITC are to increase employment and to reduce poverty and public assistance. We also find some evidence that higher welfare benefits had longer-run adverse effects, and quite robust evidence that tighter welfare time limits reduce poverty and public assistance in the longer run. The evidence on the long-run effects of the minimum wage on poverty and public assistance is not robust, with some evidence pointing to reductions …

Increasing Beneficiary Retention In Food Assistance Programs, Colin Gray, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Do Snap Work Requirements Work?, Timothy F. Harris

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act waived Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirements nationally in 2010 and broadened the eligibility for receiving waivers in subsequent years for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWD). From 2011 to 2016, many states voluntarily imposed work requirements, while other areas became ineligible for waivers because of improved economic conditions. Did the work requirements increase employment as intended, or did the policy merely remove food assistance for ABAWD who—despite an improving economy—still could not find employment? Using data from the American Community Survey from 2010 to 2016, I analyze the influence of work requirements on …

An Apple A Day? Adult Food Stamp Eligibility And Health Care Utilization Among Immigrants, Chloe N. East, Andrew I. Friedson

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

In this study, we document the effect of food stamp access on adult health care utilization. While the Food Stamp Program provides one of the largest safety nets in the United States today, the universal nature of the program across geographic areas and over time limits the potential for quasi-experimental analysis. To circumvent this, we use variation in documented immigrants’ eligibility for food stamps across states and over time due to welfare reform in 1996. Our estimates indicate that access to food stamps reduced physician visits. Additionally, we find that for single women, food stamps increased the affordability of specialty …

Food Stamps And The Working Poor, Peter R. Mueser, David C. Ribar, Erdal Tekin

Upjohn Press

The authors show that many households that are eligible for food stamps do not receive them, and that eligible individuals' enrollment is influenced by the states' administrative requirements. Highlighted are the procedures for certifying applicants and recertifying recipients, and policies for treatment of able-bodied adults without dependents.

Restoring Unemployment Insurance As Social Insurance, Christopher J. O'Leary

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Evidence-Based Reform Of The Unemployment Insurance System, Stephen A. Wandner

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Unemployment Insurance Reform: Fixing A Broken System, Stephen A. Wandner Editor

Upjohn Press

The Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is a lasting piece of the Social Security Act which was enacted in 1935. But like most things that are over 80 years old, it occasionally needs maintenance to keep it operating smoothly while keeping up with the changing demands placed upon it. However, the UI system has been ignored by policymakers for decades and, say the authors, it is broken, out of date, and badly in need of repair.

Stephen A. Wandner pulls together a group of UI researchers, each with decades of experience, who describe the weaknesses in the current system and propose …

A Comparative Analysis Of Unemployment Insurance Financing Methods, Wayne Vroman, Elaine Maag, Christopher J. O'Leary, Stephen A. Woodbury

External Papers and Reports

No abstract provided.

The 2008 Economic Stimulus Payments Increased Emotional Well-Being, Marta Lachowska

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Public Employment Programs With Field Experiments: A Survey Of American Evidence, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Research in the 1970s based on observational data provided evidence consistent with predictions from economic theory that paying unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to involuntarily jobless workers prolongs unemployment. However, some scholars also reported estimates that the additional time spent in subsidized job search was productive. That is, UI receipt tended to raise reemployment wages after work search among the unemployed. A series of field experiments in the 1980s investigated positive incentives to overcome the work disincentive effects of UI. These were followed by experiments in the 1990s that evaluated the effects of restrictions on UI eligibility through stronger work search …

Erica Groshen Interview, Justin Carinci

External Papers and Reports

Interview with former Commissioner of Labor Statistics and head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erica Groshen, from her presentation at the W.E. Upjohn Institute on August 29, 2017.

The Current State Of Workers' Compensation: Benefit Adequacy, Return To Work, And Prevention, Marcus Dillender, H. Allan Hunt

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Demonstration And Evaluation Of The Short-Time Compensation Program In Iowa And Oregon: Final Report, Susan N. Houseman, Christopher J. O'Leary, Katharine G. Abraham, Frank Bennici, Susan Labin, Richard Sigman

External Papers and Reports

Short-time compensation (STC) is an optional program within some state unemployment insurance (UI) systems that allows employers experiencing a temporary reduction in business to lower the average hours of employees in lieu of laying them off. Employer use of the STC option has been low in states with STC programs. We conducted demonstrations in Iowa and Oregon to evaluate the effectiveness of several interventions designed to increase employer awareness and use of STC, including disseminating information about STC to specific employers (members of the “treatment” group) over a 12-month period. The main findings support the hypothesis that lack of awareness …

Using Behavioral Insights To Improve Take-Up Of A Reemployment Program: Trial Design And Findings, Matthew Darling, Christopher J. O'Leary, Irma L. Perez-Johnson, Jaclyn Lefkowitz, Kenneth J. Kline, Ben Damerow, Randall W. Eberts, Samia Amin, Greg Chojnacki

External Papers and Reports

No abstract provided.

The Employment Service-Unemployment Insurance Partnership: Origin, Evolution, And Revitalization, David E. Balducchi, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This study traces the origin and evolution of the partnership between the employment service and unemployment insurance programs in the United States. We examine objectives of the framers of the Wagner-Peyser and Social Security Acts that established these programs. Using primary sources, we then analyze early actions of the architects of social insurance to facilitate cooperation between the two programs to meet economic exigencies, grapple with political cronyism, and surmount legal barriers. We also discuss factors that caused changes in the employment service–unemployment insurance partnership over time. We identify reasons for the erosion in cooperation starting in the 1980s, and …

Lessons Learned From Public Workforce Program Experiments, Stephen A. Wandner Editor

Upjohn Press

This book chronicles many of the most important experiments and the key lessons derived from the evaluations of both existing large-scale public workforce programs and the development of new interventions—including low-cost experiments based on behavioral science methods.

Workers' Compensation: Analysis For Its Second Century, H. Allan Hunt, Marcus Dillender

Upjohn Press

Hunt and Dillender review the status of workers' compensation programs on three critical performance areas: 1) the adequacy of compensation for those disabled in the workplace, 2) return-to-work performance for injured workers, and 3) prevention of disabling injury and disease.

Lessons From The American Federal-State Unemployment Insurance System For A European Unemployment Benefits System, Christopher J. O'Leary, Burt S. Barnow, Karolien Lenaerts

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The federal-state system of unemployment insurance (UI) in the United States was established by the Social Security Act of 1935 during the Great Depression. Under the program, states provide temporary partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers with significant labor force attachment. The federal government induced states to establish UI programs through two means: 1) a uniform federal tax imposed on employer payrolls, with a 90 percent reduction granted in states operating approved UI programs, and 2) grants to states to administer their programs. The system has evolved into a collection of separate state programs adapted to different regional, economic, …

Putting Short-Time Compensation To Work: How Employers Can Avert Layoffs And Reduce Training Costs, David E. Balducchi, Stephen A. Wandner

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Claim Resolution Structured Settlement Agreements: Final Report, Marcus Dillender, Kevin Hollenbeck, H. Allan Hunt

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Displaced Long-Term Workers, Randall W. Eberts

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Are There Returns To Experience At Low-Skill Jobs? Evidence From Single Mothers In The United States Over The 1990s, Adam Looney, Dayanand S. Manoli

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Policy changes in the United States in the 1990s resulted in sizable increases in employment rates of single mothers. We show that this increase led to a large and abrupt increase in work experience for single mothers with young children. We then examine the economic return to this increase in experience for affected single mothers. Despite the increases in experience, single mothers’ real wages and employment have remained relatively unchanged. The empirical analysis suggests that an additional year of experience increases single mothers’ wage rates by less than 2 percent, a percentage lower than previous estimates in the literature.

Are State Unemployment Insurance Reserves Sufficient For The Next Recession?, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Regular state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are paid from state reserves held in unemployment trust fund accounts at the U.S. Treasury. Employers covered by the federal-state UI system make contributions to reserve accounts based on taxable wages. The federal government provides incentives for forward funding of benefits to support UI as an automatic macroeconomic stabilizer in the economy. However, the Great Recession exhausted UI reserves for the majority of states, and not all of them have yet replenished those reserves. Based on patterns observed over the past 40 years, in this paper we simulate the effects on state and systemwide …

Encouragement Emails Increase Participation In Reemployment Services, Matthew Darling, Christopher J. O'Leary, Irma L. Perez-Johnson, Jaclyn Lefkowitz, Kenneth J. Kline, Ben Damerow, Randall W. Eberts

External Papers and Reports

No abstract provided.