Title: Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits will lapse too soon without policy changes
Headings: Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits will lapse too soon without policy changes
Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits will lapse too soon without policy changes
Lauren Bauer
Fellow - Economic Studies, The Hamilton Project
Wendy Edelberg
Director - The Hamilton Project
Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
Jana Parsons
Former Research Analyst - The Hamilton Project
What Are Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits?
How Do Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits Turn On…and Off?
How Have Insured Unemployment Rates Triggered Extended Benefits in Recent Years?
How do Insured Unemployment Rate Triggers and the Total Unemployment Rate Trigger Compare?
What is the Relationship Between EB Triggers and Long-Term Unemployment?
What should Policymakers Do?

Content: However, in our estimation existing EB triggers would turn the program off too quickly. We expect that existing EB triggers would turn off UI extended benefits even as the overall unemployment rate remains elevated, jobs are difficult to find, and unemployment spells grow longer. We have seen this before with the EB triggers as currently specified. During the Great Recession, Congress had to step in twice to deal with this problem. Unemployment insurance is funded by both federal and state taxes, and states maintain a lot of flexibility in administering the program. Some states are not taking full advantage of the EB program as it currently exists; state inaction limits access to benefits to workers that need them and dampens recovery efforts. Under the EB program, state governments are allowed to opt into using additional triggers that qualify them for EB with different economic indicators and allow for up to 20 weeks of benefits through the program. Nevertheless, only 15 states at the moment have opted into all of the optional triggers. How Do Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits Turn On…and Off?