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Recent Trends in Insured and Uninsured Unemployment: Is There an Explanation?

R. M. Blank1; David Card2

1 Northwestern University · 2 Princeton University

Quarterly Journal of Economics 1991

This paper explores the recent decline in the fraction of unemployed workers who receive unemployment insurance benefits. Using March Current Population Surveys, we compare the fraction who are potentially eligible for benefits with the fraction who receive them. The decline in insured unemployment is almost entirely due to a decline in the early 1980s in the takeup rate for benefits. We analyze the determinants of the takeup rate, using both aggregated state-level data and micro-data. At least half the decline is due to an increasing share of unemployment in states with lower takeup rates.

DOI
10.2307/2937960
Volume
106 (4)
Pages
1157-1189
Language
en
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