Do Unemployment Insurance Benefits Improve Match Quality? Evidence from Recent U.S. Recessions

We present new evidence on the impact of more generous unemployment insurance (UI) on workers’ ability to find jobs better suited to their skills. Using Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data, we find the UI extensions introduced in the U.S. improved the quality of worker-job matches. Using Current Population Survey data, we also find that longer UI benefit durations decrease the mismatch between workers’ educational attainments and the educational requirements of jobs. We find bigger effects of UI on match quality for those more likely to be liquidity constrained—women, non-whites and less-educated workers—,suggesting UI extensions improve the functioning of the labor market.

Reference Information

Author: 

Ammar Farooq,
Adriana D. Kugler,
Umberto Muratori
Publisher: 
National Bureau of Economic Research
Publication Date: 
July 2020