Based on existing studies of the responsiveness of job search to benefit duration, these authors concluded that the extension of the maximum UI entitlement period accounts for 10-15% of the total increase in average unemployment duration since July 2008 which translates into a 0.7 percentage point rise in unemployment (as compared with an overall increase of 5.5 percentage points). Fujita (2010) obtains a significantly larger estimated effect (1.7 percentage points), but Kroft and Notowidigdo (2011) and Schmieder et al. ( While there is great uncertainty concerning the size of the impact of the UI benefit extensions, these studies suggest that it has played a role in lengthening unemployment spells, but is not the whole story.