DP10568 Does Extending Unemployment Benefits Improve Job Quality?
Author(s): | Arash Nekoei, Andrea Weber |
Publication Date: | May 2015 |
Keyword(s): | job search, regression discontinuity design, unemployment insurance, wages |
JEL(s): | H5, J3, J6 |
Programme Areas: | Labour Economics |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=10568 |
Contrary to standard search model predictions, prior studies failed to estimate a positive effect of unemployment insurance (UI) on reemployment wages. This paper estimates a positive UI wage effect exploiting an age-based regression discontinuity in Austrian administrative data. A search model incorporating duration dependence determines the UI wage effect as the balance between two offsetting forces: UI causes agents to seek higher-wage jobs, but also reduces wages by lengthening unemployment. This implies a negative relationship between the UI unemployment duration and wage effects, which holds empirically both in our sample and across studies, reconciling disparate wage-effect estimates. Empirically, UI raises wages by improving reemployment firms? quality and attenuating wage drops.