Unemployment Benefit Recipients Research Articles

Frictions on Both sides of the Counter? A Study of Red Tape Among Street-Level Bureaucrats and Administrative Burden Among Their Clients

Administrative burden research shows that onerous and dysfunctional policy design can have detrimental outcomes among policy recipients. But less is known about the intermediary role played by the street-level bureaucrats who enforce these policies in practice. Using two separate surveys of 775 unemployment benefit recipients and 107 counselors in the Danish unemployment benefit system, I find that recipients report higher levels of administrative burden when served by counselors who themselves experience red tape from the rules and procedures they have to implement. The findings have important policy implications by showing that experiences of frictions among those assigned to convert onerous policies into practice can exacerbate administrative burden among their clients.

The implosion of the Dutch surveillance welfare state

AbstractFrom the 1990s onwards, fraud detection has become an increasingly important focus in the design and implementation of a variety of welfare schemes, including unemployment benefits, social assistance benefits, pensions, and personal care budgets. This culminated in the 2014 Fraud Act, which introduced a system of high sanction in all cases of benefit fraud, even if they were causes by administrative errors. In 2020 a parliamentary investigation committee concluded that the Dutch government had violated the foundational principles of the rule of law through the way suspected fraudsters with childcare allowances had been treated. This so‐called Childcare allowances affair undermined the support for the harsh approach to fraud and led to a series of proposals to reform the Dutch ‘surveillance welfare state’. The Dutch Childcare allowances affair is an interesting case of a social policy crisis because its origins are not external events but lie in the regular implementation of policies that have been approved and supported rather widely by politicians, policymakers and street‐level bureaucrats. In this article, we define and apply the concept ‘institutional implosion’ to analyse the Childcare allowances affair and its consequences. Moreover, we argue that the implosion in this affair follows from an extension of the target group from ‘non‐deserving’ to ‘deserving’ citizens. Whereas the Fraud Act primarily was aimed towards recipients of unemployment, disability and social assistance benefits, a change in the system of childcare allowances extended the scope of the Fraud Act to an almost universal group of parents that use childcare facilities.

Is stress among street‐level bureaucrats associated with experiences of administrative burden among clients? A multilevel study of the Danish unemployment sector

AbstractResearch on street‐level bureaucracy argues that factors such as stress and burnout affect the behaviors of street‐level bureaucrats toward clients. At the same time, the literature on administrative burdens argues that citizens face a series of costs when they experience policy implementation as onerous. We draw on both literatures to theorize ways in which street‐level bureaucrats' behavioral responses to stress states may influence client experiences of administrative burden. Using a multilevel dataset of unemployment counselors and unemployment benefit recipients from 53 departments of a Danish unemployment insurance fund, we find that stress states among counselors are positively associated with benefit recipients' experiences of both learning costs, compliance costs, and experiences of autonomy loss. We conclude by discussing limitations and practical implications. In particular, we call for research into how street‐level bureaucrat characteristics influence client experiences of administrative burden.

Double standard policy: why are immigrants still at the tail of welfare?

PurposeThis research considers the question of whether unemployment insurance benefit and labour-market activation measures induce the likelihood of re-employment and whether this effect differs for natives and immigrants.Design/methodology/approachStatistical processing was carried out on the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions cross-sectional data for Finland for the period 2004 to 2016. Propensity score matching analysis was undertaken to investigate whether a treatment effect (unemployment insurance benefit) was a predictor of success in increasing re-employment rates, when controlling for participation in labour-market policy measures, subsidized employment and personal background characteristics.FindingsWe find that the probability of re-employment for recipients of unemployment benefits is half that of non-recipients of benefits. Due to the influence of subsidized employment, subsequent employment income decreases for recipients of unemployment benefits and especially for immigrants. Finally, we find that due to the influence of subsidized employment, time spent as a full-time employee decreases for recipients of unemployment benefits and especially for immigrants.Originality/valueAlthough our results indicate that benefit determination has a marked impact on re-employment probabilities, unobserved variables turn to play a significant role in selection of labour-market activation measures. In this respect, we find the treatment assignment to activation policy measures depends on influence of unobserved variables and this effect is more important for the re-employment rates of natives than it is for immigrants.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2019-0668.

Activation programs for unemployment benefit recipients in Slovenia

Abstract Activation of the unemployed has been an important topic among policymakers during the last decades. This paper reviews the current measures in Slovenia in the area of activation of unemployment benefit recipients and it compares its formal requirements related to activation against the international background. The paper focuses on five activation areas: adjustment of unemployment benefit eligibility, improving employment services, participation in active labour market policies, monitoring and sanctions. The review lists several recommendations Slovenia should apply to activate unemployment benefit recipients, including introducing more demanding job search requirements and increased monitoring of the compliance with these requirements, introducing compulsory participation in active labour market programs, checking the consistency and effectiveness of the current profiling system, and strengthening the ex-ante effect of sanctions.

Does receipt of unemployment benefits change recruiter perceptions of candidates’ personality, work relevant skills and employability?

BACKGROUND: Growing experimental evidence shows that unemployment benefit recipients are generally perceived negatively in terms of their personality and employability by the general public. Welfare stigma tied to unemployment or receipt of income support may disproportionately negatively impact individuals who have been out of work due to disability, or chronic health conditions. OBJECTIVE: The current study examined whether welfare stigma and/or unemployment stigma, translate to perceptions and hiring decisions made by individuals working in recruitment, potentially creating barriers to re-employment for those without work and relying on unemployment benefits. METHODS: We used a vignette-based experiment (N = 213) where participants working in recruitment rated personality and employment capabilities of characters who were described as employed, unemployed or unemployed and receiving benefits. RESULTS: Characters who were employed were generally rated more positively on employability and work-relevant skills, compared to the unemployed and unemployed benefit recipients, but these differences did not translate into a binary hiring decision (would you hire this person for the job). There were few differences in ratings of personality characteristics between the employed, the unemployed and those who were receiving unemployment benefits. CONCLUSIONS: These results add to knowledge about the determinants of welfare stigma showing that potential bias towards the unemployed and benefit recipients held by recruiters differs from that held by the general public.

The association of COVID-19 employment shocks with suicide and safety net use: An early-stage investigation.

This paper examines whether the COVID-19-induced employment shocks are associated with increases in suicides and safety net use in the second and third quarters of 2020. We exploit plausibly exogenous regional variation in the magnitude of the employment shocks in Japan and adopt a difference-in-differences research design to examine and control for possible confounders. Our preferred point estimates suggest that a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020 is associated with, approximately, an additional 0.52 suicides, 28 unemployment benefit recipients, 88 recipients of a temporary loan program, and 10 recipients of public assistance per 100,000 population per month. A simple calculation based on these estimates suggests that if a region experienced a one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate caused by the COVID-19 crisis in the second quarter of 2020, which is roughly equivalent to the third-highest regional employment shock, this would be associated with 37.4%, 60.5%, and 26.5% increases in the total, female, and male suicide rates respectively in July 2020 compared with July 2019. These results are primarily correlational rather than causal due to the limitation of our data and research design, but our baseline findings are robust to several different model specifications.

Regional Factors Influencing Non-Take-Up for Social Support in Korea Using a Spatial Regression Model

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influential factors of non-take-up citizens, who do not receive social benefits, to increase their discovery rate. A spatial regression model was used to analyze the variables affecting the discovery rates. As a result of the study, there was a difference in the percentage of welfare blind spots by region. In addition, when the proportion of the elderly population, the number of unemployment benefit recipients, etc. increased, that of welfare blind spots also increased; the lower the population density was, the higher the rate of increase in welfare blind spots became. Accordingly, in order to resolve the welfare blind spots at the local level, it is necessary to reinforce policy support for the elderly population and reduce the unemployment rate. Particularly, the policy will have to be prepared to resolve the welfare blind spots in rural areas with low population density.

Health service use of Australian unemployment and disability benefit recipients: a national, cross-sectional study

BackgroundHealthcare is funded and delivered separately from income support programs such as unemployment and disability benefits. Greater understanding of the health service use (HSU) of benefit recipients would support more effective design and delivery of health and income support programs. This study aimed to characterise the HSU of disability and unemployment benefit recipients relative to people earning wages, while controlling for personal, household and health-related factors associated with HSU in benefit recipients.MethodsA cross-sectional national survey of 9110 working age Australian adults in three groups: (1) 566 receiving the disability support pension (DSP); (2) 410 receiving unemployment benefits; and (3) 8134 earning wages. Outcomes included prevalence and frequency of health professional consultations, hospital attendance and admission in the past 12 months, as well as medication and supplement use in the past 2 weeks. Analyses compared DSP and unemployment benefit recipients to wage earners using prevalence ratios and incident rate ratios, adjusted for predisposing, enabling and need factors that may affect HSU.ResultsIn adjusted regression models, both DSP and unemployment benefit recipients were significantly more likely than wage earners to have consulted psychologists and social workers. DSP recipients also reported a significantly higher prevalence of consultations with General Practitioners (GPs), specialist physicians and podiatrists.. Both groups reported significantly more frequent consultations with GPs and DSP recipients with specialists. No differences were observed between groups for hospital attendance or admission, or supplement use in fully adjusted models, though the DSP group reported more prevalent medication use than wage earners. Inclusion of confounders including self-assessed health, disability severity, health insurance status, and financial resources attenuated the relationship between benefit receipt and HSU, however significant associations were still observed.ConclusionsPeople receiving unemployment and disability insurance benefits use significantly more health services than wage earners. A range of personal and clinical characteristics explained much, but not all, of the association between greater HSU and benefit receipt. Greater coordination between health and income support systems may improve health, reduce HSU and improve work ability in unemployed and working age people.

Unemployment, Employability and COVID19: How the Global Socioeconomic Shock Challenged Negative Perceptions Toward the Less Fortunate in the Australian Context.

Unemployed benefit recipients are stigmatized and generally perceived negatively in terms of their personality characteristics and employability. The COVID19 economic shock led to rapid public policy responses across the globe to lessen the impact of mass unemployment, potentially shifting community perceptions of individuals who are out of work and rely on government income support. We used a repeated cross-sections design to study change in stigma tied to unemployment and benefit receipt in a pre-existing pre-COVID19 sample (n = 260) and a sample collected during COVID19 pandemic (n = 670) by using a vignette-based experiment. Participants rated attributes of characters who were described as being employed, working poor, unemployed or receiving unemployment benefits. The results show that compared to employed characters, unemployed characters were rated substantially less favorably at both time points on their employability and personality traits. The difference in perceptions of the employed and unemployed was, however, attenuated during COVID19 with benefit recipients perceived as more employable and more Conscientious than pre-pandemic. These results add to knowledge about the determinants of welfare stigma highlighting the impact of the global economic and health crisis on perception of others.

Elections and unemployment benefits for families: Did the Family Benefit Dispute affect election outcomes in Germany?

Underlying reasons for certain voting outcomes are subject to a vivid debate – especially in times of landslide changes in voting outcomes of long-established parties in many European countries including Germany. The linkages between these voting outcomes and economic indicators are rather elusive since many confounding and unobservable aspects determine voting decisions. Exploiting a quasi-natural experiment resulting from a legislation change in the German state of Bavaria that effectively increased family benefits for unemployment benefit recipients in certain districts, we try to identify the effect of this legislation on voting outcomes in the Bavarian state election of 2018. While we do not find a significant effect on general election outcomes in the affected districts, our results imply that the general debate seems to have affected the voting behavior of families with unemployment benefits and children under the age of three.

Job search, transition to employment and discouragement among older unemployed welfare recipients in Germany

AbstractThis paper quantifies the importance of active job search for the probability of re‐employment, estimates the share of older job seekers that become discouraged and explore factors that may lead to discouragement. We use the sample of older unemployed welfare benefit recipients in Germany covered by the Panel Study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS). We find that employment transition rates are low for older job seekers: only around 11% found a job within a year. Participation in job search is an important but not a decisive factor for the transition to employment, other variables such education levels and health status are as important for the probability to transit to employment. Furthermore, more than 29.4% of individuals that did not find employment gave up the job search. We argue that a large share of these group of unemployed could be classified as discouraged. The job centre caseworkers' strategies specifically aimed at helping older job seekers to develop a new perspective in the labour market are likely to increase their probability of continuing to search for work.

Consumption Effects of Unemployment Insurance during the Covid-19 Pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment insurance (UI) benefits have taken on an unprecedented role in the United States economy. In May 2020, total UI benefits were equal to 14.6 percent of total wages, more than five times the Great Recession peak. This is due to two factors: first, the high unemployment rate, which reached 14.7 percent in April 2020; and second, the expansion of UI benefits, including a $600 per week federal supplement paid to all benefit recipients. In this paper, we examine the effects of UI on consumption during the pandemic. Our first finding is that during the pandemic, while aggregate spending of the employed was down by 10 percent, the spending of unemployment benefit recipients increased by 10 percent, a pattern which is likely explained by the $600 supplement. Our second finding is that among the unemployed who experience a delay in receiving benefits, spending falls by 20 percent—a drop not seen by those who receive benefits more immediately after job loss. These findings suggest that allowing the $600 supplement to expire without any replacement could meaningfully reduce aggregate consumption.

The Intergenerational Effects of Requiring Unemployment Benefit Recipients to Engage in Non-Search Activities

We use a quasi-experimental design and national administrative data to analyze the intergenerational effects of introducing non-search activity requirements for unemployment benefit recipients. The Mutual Obligations Initiative (MOI) required people aged 18–34 receiving unemployment benefits to undertake a range of non-search activities (e.g., volunteering, training) in addition to job search. The young adults (aged 23–28) we study were in early adolescence in 1999 when the MOI was introduced. Using a regression discontinuity approach, we find that those young adults whose fathers were subject to the MOI have a lower incidence of unemployment benefit receipt in comparison to those whose fathers were not. More detailed investigation suggests that completion of the mandated activities, role modeling, changes in attitudes, improved health, and greater support and stability are potential channels for this effect.

Unemployment Insurance, Recalls and Experience Rating

In the US, almost half of unemployment spells end through recall. In this paper, we show that the probability of being recalled is much higher among unemployment benefit recipients than non-recipients. We argue that a large part of the observed difference in recall shares is accounted for by the design of the unemployment insurance financing scheme characterized by an experience rating system. We develop a search and matching model with different unemployment insurance status, endogenous separations, recalls and new hires. We quantify what would have been the labor market under alternative financing scheme. In the absence of the experience rating, the hiring and separations would have been higher in the long run and more volatile. Experience rating system contributes significantly to the difference in recalls between the recipients and the non-recipients.

The Effect of Job Search Requirements on Welfare Receipt

Many countries impose job search requirements on unemployment benefit recipients. Existing studies have evaluated only incremental changes to requirements. Australian reforms in 1995 saw groups of welfare recipients newly subjected to job search requirements, allowing us to produce the first causal estimates of the total effects of such requirements on welfare receipt. Using a quasi-experimental design and administrative data, we find large negative effects on welfare receipt for the mature-age partnered women targeted by the reforms. We also find large negative effects on welfare receipt of their partners, suggesting family labour supply decisions were considerably affected.

The Effect of Job Search Requirements on Welfare Receipt

Many countries impose job search requirements on unemployment benefit recipients. Existing studies have evaluated only incremental changes to requirements. Australian reforms in 1995 saw groups of welfare recipients newly subjected to job search requirements, allowing us to produce the first causal estimates of the total effects of such requirements on welfare receipt. Using a quasi-experimental design and administrative data, we find large negative effects on welfare receipt for the mature-age partnered women targeted by the reforms. We also find large negative effects on welfare receipt of their partners, suggesting family labour supply decisions were considerably affected.

The Intergenerational Effects of Requiring Unemployment Benefit Recipients to Engage in Non-Search Activities

We use a quasi-experimental design and national administrative data to analyze the intergenerational effects of introducing non-search activity requirements for unemployment benefit recipients. The Mutual Obligations Initiative (MOI) required people aged 18–34 receiving unemployment benefits to undertake a range of non-search activities (e.g., volunteering, training) in addition to job search. The young adults (aged 23–28) we study were in early adolescence in 1999 when the MOI was introduced. Using a regression discontinuity approach, we find that those young adults whose fathers were subject to the MOI have a lower incidence of unemployment benefit receipt in comparison to those whose fathers were not. More detailed investigation suggests that completion of the mandated activities, role modeling, changes in attitudes, improved health, and greater support and stability are potential channels for this effect.

The persistence of welfare stigma: Does the passing of time and subsequent employment moderate the negative perceptions associated with unemployment benefit receipt?

AbstractPeople receiving welfare payments are stigmatized. However, previous studies of welfare recipient stereotypes have not examined whether the stigma endures after payments are no longer received and have rarely considered the stigma associated with specific categories of welfare payments. We examined whether welfare stigma endures in three experiments (total N = 873) focused on one category of welfare recipient, people receiving government income support due to their unemployment. To test if this stigmatized identity marked or scarred how people are perceived, we compared evaluations of currently unemployed benefit recipients to currently employed people who either previously received this benefit or who had no stated history of benefit receipt. Across the three experiments, we found that current recipients of unemployment benefits were evaluated as much less conscientious, less human, and poorer workers, but as somewhat more extraverted than currently employed individuals irrespective of their welfare history. Moreover, we found that currently employed individuals were evaluated similarly, regardless of whether they had a prior history of benefit receipt, and the recency of this prior benefit experience. This pattern of results suggests that receiving unemployment benefits does not scar how a person is perceived by others, but only temporarily marks how they are perceived. These findings suggest that welfare stigma may create an evaluative barrier to returning to work, but that if this barrier can be overcome there are no negative evaluations of former recipients’ character. Overall, community members seem accepting of prior benefit receipt once a person returns to work.

Community Attitudes Toward People Receiving Unemployment Benefits: Does Volunteering Change Perceptions?

People receiving government income support due to unemployment are sometimes required to participate in activities such as volunteering. These “mutual obligation” requirements have community support, but the effect of volunteering on benefit recipients is unclear. In three person-perception experiments (N = 222, 533, 934), we considered whether volunteering overcomes negative evaluations of unemployed benefit recipients. Volunteering increased the extent to which benefit recipients were considered suitable workers and likeable, but these effects also generalized to non-recipients. Results suggest that volunteering may compensate for attitudinal barriers arising from welfare stigma that represents a barrier for employment.