[cover]

Unemployment Insurance in the United States

Analysis of Policy Issues

Christopher J. O'Leary, W.E. Upjohn Institute
Stephen A. Wandner, Urban Institute, and
                              UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor, Editors

O'Leary and Wandner offer 15 original essays that reflect the current state of knowledge on policy issues critical to the performance and success of the nation's UI system. The essays are based on up-to-date program data, enabling the authors to provide analyses on and recommendations for issues at the forefront of the UI policy debate.

Topics include coverage, eligibility, adequacy and duration of benefits, labor market attachment, benefit financing, fraud and abuse, the intersection of UI with other income maintenance programs, federal-state relations (including devolution), and more.

The chapters were presented at a conference hosted jointly by the Upjohn Institute and the U.S Department of Labor. They are:

  • Policy Issues: An Overview, Saul J. Blaustein, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research--retired, Christopher J. O'Leary, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Stephen A. Wandner, Urban Institute and UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor
  • Coverage and Recipiency: Trends and Effects, Laurie Bassi, American Society for Training and Development and Daniel P. McMurrer, Urban Institute
  • Initial Eligibility for Unemployment Insurance, Walter Nicholson, Amherst College
  • Continuing Eligibility: Current Labor Market Attachment, Patricia Anderson, Dartmouth College
  • Adequacy of the Weekly Benefit Amount, Christopher J. O'Leary, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Murray A. Rubin, Consultant
  • The Duration of Benefits, Stephen A. Woodbury, Michigan State University and W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Murray A. Rubin, Consultant
  • Work Incentives and Disincentives, Paul T. Decker, Mathematica Policy Research
  • Financing Benefit Payments, Phillip B. Levine, Wellesley College and National Bureau of Economic Research
  • Trends in Unemployment Insurance Benefit Financing, Mike Miller, UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor, Robert Pavosevich, UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor and Wayne Vroman, Urban Institute
  • Fraud, Abuse, and Errors in the Unemployment Insurance System: Extent, Measurement, and Correction, Burman Skrable, UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor
  • The Role of the Employment Service, David E. Balducchi, UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor, Terry R. Johnson, Battelle Northwest Laboratories and R. Mark Gritz, Battelle Northwest Laboratories
  • Intersection with Other Programs and Policies, Walter Corson, Mathematica Policy Research
  • Federal-State Relations, Thomas E. West, Michigan Employment Security Commission and Gerard Hildebrand, UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor
  • Unemployment Compensation in the Group of Seven Nations: An International Comparison, James R. Storey, Congressional Research Service and Jennifer A. Niesner, Congressional Research Service
  • Summing Up: Achievements, Problems and Prospects, Christopher J. O'Leary, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Stephen A. Wandner, Urban Institute and UI Service, U.S. Department of Labor
This volume, along with Saul J. Blaustein's 1993 book Unemployment Insurance in the Untied States: The First Half Century, constitute the Upjohn Institute's planned two-part update of William Haber and Merrill Murray's 1966 work, Unemployment Insurance in the American Economy.
"O'Leary and Wandner state their objectives in the preface: 'to present an accessible survey of what is known about how the federal-state system of unemployment insurance (UI) works in the United States and to offer ideas for further improvement to the system.' They have achieved their objectives. Not only do these papers describe how the system works, but they review analyses of the key issues, and suggest options for further research and improvement in the system. I recommend [this book] highly." Richard A. Hobbie, Monthly Labor Review

"Overall, this book should become an essential reference for anyone interested in the state of knowledge about the policy issues facing the UI system." Robert G. Spiegelman

Related titles
  • Unemployment Compensation Throughtout the World, Wayne Vroman and Vera Brusentsev
  • Unemployment Insurance in the United States: The First Half Century, Saul J. Blaustein
  • Topics in Unemployment Insurance Financing, Wayne Vroman
  • Permanent Job Loss and the U.S. System of Financing Unemployment Insurance, Frank Brechling and Louise Laurence
  • Recent Developments in the Theory of Involuntary Unemployment, Carl Davidson
    Also visit our Unemployment Insurance Research Hub.
    • 753 pp. $70 cloth ISBN 0-88099-174-7 / $33 paper ISBN 0-88099-173-9 / 1997.

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