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Job Search and Unemployment Insurance: New Evidence from Time Use Data

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Author Info
Alan B. Krueger (Princeton University and NBER)
Andreas Mueller (Stockholm University and Princeton University)

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Abstract

This paper provides new evidence on job search intensity of the unemployed in the U.S., modeling job search intensity as time allocated to job search activities. The main findings are: 1) the average unemployed worker in the U.S. devotes about 41 minutes to job search on weekdays, which is substantially more than his or her European counterpart; 2) workers who expect to be recalled by their previous employer search substantially less than the average unemployed worker; 3) across the 50 states and D.C., job search is inversely related to the generosity of unemployment benefits, with an elasticity between -1.6 and -2.2; 4) the predicted wage is a strong predictor of time devoted to job search, with an elasticity in excess of 2.5; 5) job search intensity for those eligible for Unemployment Insurance (UI) increases prior to benefit exhaustion; 6) time devoted to job search is fairly constant regardless of unemployment duration for those who are ineligible for UI. A nonparametric Monte Carlo technique suggests that the relationship between job search effort and the duration of unemployment for a cross-section of job seekers is only slightly biased by length-based sampling.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section. in its series Working Papers with number 1070.

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Date of creation: Aug 2008
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Handle: RePEc:pri:indrel:1070

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Related research
Keywords: unemployment; unemployment insurance; job search; time use; unemployment benefits; inequality;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Phillip B. Levine, 1993. "Spillover effects between the insured and uninsured unemployed," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 47(1), pages 73-86, October.
  2. Krueger, Alan B. & Mueller, Andreas, 2008. "The Lot of the Unemployed: A Time Use Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 3490, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Krueger, Alan B. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2002. "Labor supply effects of social insurance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 33, pages 2327-2392 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Lawrence F. Katz, 1986. "Layoffs, Recall and the Duration of Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 1825, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. David Card & Raj Chetty & Andrea Weber, 2007. "The Spike at Benefit Exhaustion: Leaving the Unemployment System or Starting a New Job?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 113-118, May. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Raj Chetty, 2008. "Moral Hazard vs. Liquidity and Optimal Unemployment Insurance," NBER Working Papers 13967, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Jonathan Gruber, 1994. "The Consumption Smoothing Benefits of Unemployment Insurance," NBER Working Papers 4750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Fernando Alvarez & Robert Shimer, 2008. "Search and Rest Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 13772, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent, 1998. "The European Unemployment Dilemma," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(3), pages 514-550, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Stephen R. G. Jones & W. Craig Riddell, 1999. "The Measurement of Unemployment: An Empirical Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(1), pages 147-162, January.
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  11. Feldstein, Martin & Poterba, James, 1984. "Unemployment insurance and reservation wages," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 141-167. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Moffitt, Robert, 1985. "Unemployment insurance and the distribution of unemployment spells," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 85-101, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Dale T. Mortensen, 1977. "Unemployment insurance and job search decisions," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 30(4), pages 505-517, July.
  14. Ljungqvist, Lars & Sargent, Thomas J, 1995. "Welfare States and Unemployment," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 143-60, June.
  15. Katz, Lawrence F & Meyer, Bruce D, 1990. "Unemployment Insurance, Recall Expectations, and Unemployment Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(4), pages 973-1002, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Katz, Lawrence F. & Meyer, Bruce D., 1990. "The impact of the potential duration of unemployment benefits on the duration of unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 45-72, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Coles, Melvyn G & Smith, Eric, 1998. "Marketplaces and Matching," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(1), pages 239-54, February.
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  18. Jones, Stephen R G, 1988. "The Relationship between Unemployment Spells and Reservation Wages as a Test of Search Theory," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 741-65, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. M.Daniele Paserman, 2008. "Job Search and Hyperbolic Discounting: Structural Estimation and Policy Evaluation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1418-1452, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Raj Chetty, 2008. "Moral Hazard versus Liquidity and Optimal Unemployment Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(2), pages 173-234, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. Harry J. Holzer, 1987. "Job search by employed and unemployed youth," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 40(4), pages 601-611, July.
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Kaas, Leo, 2008. "Variable Search Intensity in an Economy with Coordination Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 3697, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  2. Petrongolo, Barbara, 2008. "The long-term effects of job search requirements: Evidence from the UK JSA reform," CEPR Discussion Papers 7067, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Petrongolo, Barbara, 2008. "The Long-Term Effects of Job Search Requirements: Evidence from the UK JSA Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 3856, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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