W.E.Upjohn Institutefor Employment Research

Key Questions

• Have average UI durations and exhaustion rates risen in recent years?

• Have changes in claimant characteristics or separation reasons affected durations?

• Has the repeat use of UI increased?

• Do reemployment services affect UI receipt?

• Have patterns of employer attachment changed for UI beneficiaries?

W.E.Upjohn Institutefor Employment Research

Plausible Reasons forIncrease in UI Duration

•Increase in UI use by former TANF recipients.

•Industrial restructuring; less manufacturing employment.

•Repeat use of UI has increased.

•Decline in employer recall of former employees.

•Observed increase is a cyclical phenomenon.

W.E.Upjohn Institutefor Employment Research

Cyclical Aspects ofUI Benefits and Beneficiaries

• UI duration and exhaustion rates move inversely to business expansions.

• Average prior earnings level of UI beneficiaries rose during recent recession.

• UI beneficiaries with higher prior earnings were a larger share of claimants during recent recession than before that event.

W.E.Upjohn Institutefor Employment Research

Former TANF Recipients and Prior Earnings of UI Claimants

• The share of TANF recipients among UI beneficiaries has been relatively constant since TANF began in 1996.

• The share of UI benefit entitled duration drawn by recent TANF recipients increased during the recent recession.

• A higher share of UI benefit entitled duration is drawn by beneficiaries with higher prior earnings.

W.E.Upjohn Institutefor Employment Research

Prior Industry, Occupation andExpectation of Recall

• UI beneficiaries during the recent recession were less likely than previously to come from a manufacturing affiliation.

• The share of UI beneficiaries from professional and managerial occupations rose during the recent recession.

• Compared to previous years, a smaller share of UI claimants now expect to be recalled by a previous employer.

W.E.Upjohn Institutefor Employment Research

Repeat UI Claims, Profiling and Useof Reemployment Services

• About 20 percent of UI beneficiaries return within three years; less than two percent have three or more claims in a four year period.

• Among repeat beneficiaries, longer durations are observed for those with a UI claim in the previous benefit year.

• UI beneficiaries who are not profiled use reemployment services at about half the rate of profiled beneficiaries.