While far from the only Republican objection to an extension of - TopicsExpress



          

While far from the only Republican objection to an extension of unemployment benefits, one of the primary arguments was that the very existence of unemployment insurance itself was part of what caused unemployment. Despite the fact that there were as many as three jobseekers in the U.S. for every open position, Republicans commonly argued that if only unemployment benefits were cut, people would go out and find work. The recent study by Regis Barnichon of the Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional in Barcelona and Andrew Figura of the Federal Reserve Board, finds that the impact of extended benefits on unemployment is quite small — on the order of one-third of one percent — and that it has no discernible effect on labor force participation rates. To be sure, the study did find that the benefits extension (which they refer to as Emergency and Extended unemployment Benefits, or EEB) increased levels of unemployment. But the small size of the increase, given the high levels of unemployment in the country during the time in question, argues against the wisdom of wholesale benefits cuts.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 19:08:43 +0000

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