Unemployment Insurance Eligibility and Employment Duration

Clément Brébion, Simon Briole, Laura Khoury

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperResearch

Abstract

While the literature on unemployment insurance (UI) has extensively documented the role of benefit level and duration, little is known about the e˙ect of UI eligibility conditions. These conditions often impose a minimum work history to qualify for UI benefits. In this paper, we exploit a French reform that softened this require-ment after 2009 to evaluate the impact of UI eligibility conditions on employment duration. Using administrative panel data matching employment and unemploy-ment spells, we provide evidence that the reform induced a jump in employment exits at the new threshold. Our results show that firms’ hiring decisions are instru-mental in this separation response: they schedule fixed-term contracts such that their duration coincide with the new minimum work history condition. The reform also a˙ects the employment duration of workers beyond those seeking UI eligibility, which indicates the emergence of a new norm in contract length.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date15 Nov 2022
Number of pages57
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2022
EventThe 34th EALE Conference 2022 - Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
Duration: 21 Sept 202223 Sept 2022
Conference number: 34
https://eale.nl/

Conference

ConferenceThe 34th EALE Conference 2022
Number34
LocationMaastricht University
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityMaastricht
Period21/09/202223/09/2022
Internet address

Keywords

  • Unemployment insurance
  • Employment duration
  • Firm behavior
  • Temporary employment

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