Is the Threat of Reemployment Services More Effective Than the Services Themselves? Evidence from Random Assignment in the UI System

Dan A. Black; Jeffrey A. Smith; Mark C. Berger; Brett J. Noel

doi:10.1257/000282803769206313

Is the Threat of Reemployment Services More Effective Than the Services Themselves? Evidence from Random Assignment in the UI System

Dan A. Black¹; Jeffrey A. Smith²; Mark C. Berger³; Brett J. Noel⁴

¹ Center for Policy Research, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244. · ² Department of Economics, 3105 Tydings Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. · ³ Department of Economics, Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506. · ⁴ American Express—TRS, 10030 North 25th Avenue, Building 10400, Phoenix, AZ 85021.

American Economic Review 2003

We examine the effect of the Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services system. This program “profiles” Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants to determine their probability of benefit exhaustion and then provides mandatory employment and training services to claimants with high predicted probabilities. Using a unique experimental design, we estimate that the program reduces mean weeks of UI benefit receipt by about 2.2 weeks, reduces mean UI benefits received by about $143, and increases subsequent earnings by over $1,050. Most of the effect results from a sharp increase in early UI exits in the treatment group relative to the control group.

DOI: 10.1257/000282803769206313
Volume: 93 (4)
Pages: 1313-1327
Language: en
Export: BibTeX
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