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 the Covid-19 pandemic continue 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.
See also our page on youth unemployment.
Listen to talks on this topic by Alex Bryson and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve from January 23, 2018.
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The effects of public sector employment on the economy Updated
The size and wage level of the public sector affect overall employment volatility and the economy
Vincenzo CaponiSimone Nobili, June 2024Public sector jobs are established by governments to directly provide goods and services. Governments may also choose to regulate the size of the public sector in order to stabilize targeted national employment levels. However, economic research suggests that these effects are uncertain and critically depend on how public wages are determined. Rigid public sector wages lead to perverse effects on private employment, while flexible public wages lead to a stabilizing effect. Public employment also has important productivity and redistributive effects.MoreLess -
Public or private job placement services — Are private ones more effective? Updated
Outsourcing to the private sector can only be effective if the service quality can be contracted on
Gesine Stephan, May 2024Expenditures on job placement and related services make up a substantial share of many countries’ gross domestic products. Contracting out to private providers is often proposed as a cost-efficient alternative to the state provision of placement services. However, the responsible state agency has to be able and willing to design and monitor sufficiently complete contracts to ensure that the private contractors deliver the desired service quality. None of the empirical evidence indicates that contracting-out is necessarily more effective or more cost-efficient than public employment services.MoreLess -
Compensating displaced workers Updated
Job displacement is a serious earnings risk and the displaced are typically poorly insured
Donald O. Parsons, February 2024Job displacement is a serious earnings risk to long-tenured workers, both through spells of unemployment and through reduced wages on subsequent jobs. Less developed countries often rely exclusively on government mandated employer-provided severance pay to protect displaced workers. Higher income countries usually rely on public unemployment insurance and mandated severance pay. Beyond these options, more administratively demanding plans have been proposed, including UI savings accounts and “actual loss” wage insurance, though real-world experience on either model is lacking.MoreLess -
How should job displacement wage losses be insured? Updated
Wage losses upon re-employment can seriously harm long-tenured displaced workers if they are not properly insured
Donald O. Parsons, July 2023Job displacement represents a serious earnings risk to long-tenured workers through lower re-employment wages, and these losses may persist for many years. Moreover, this risk is often poorly insured, although not for a lack of policy interest. To reduce this risk, most countries mandate scheduled wage insurance (severance pay), although it is provided only voluntarily in others, including the US. Actual-loss wage insurance is uncommon, although perceived difficulties may be overplayed. Both approaches offer the hope of greater consumption smoothing, with actual-loss plans carrying greater promise, but more uncertainty, of success.MoreLess -
Job search requirements for older unemployed workers Updated
Search requirements for the older unemployed affect their re-employment rates and their flows into states of inactivity
Hans Bloemen, November 2022Many OECD countries have, or have had, a policy that exempts older unemployed people from the requirement to search for a job. An aging population and low participation by older workers in the labor market increasingly put public finances under strain, and spur calls for policy measures that activate labor force participation by older workers. Introducing job search requirements for older unemployed workers aims to increase their re-employment rates. Abolishing the exemption from job search requirements for the older unemployed has been shown to initiate higher outflow rates from unemployment for them.MoreLess -
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