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Tightening eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits. Impact on educational attainment

Author

Listed:
  • Cockx, Bart
  • Declercq, Koen
  • Dejemeppe, Muriel

Abstract

Imposing stricter eligibility conditions on unemployment insurance (UI) may increase the returns to education investment because these make the consequences of unemployment more severe. In most countries, entitlement to regular UI hinges on completing a qualifying period of work and social contributions. In Belgium, this requirement also exists but is relaxed for education-leavers in that they can substitute time actively searching for a job for employment during the qualifying period. We evaluate the impact on degree completion and dropout of a 2015 reform that withdrew this weaker requirement from graduates aged 25 or over and from high school dropouts younger than 21. We find that the reform significantly increased degree completion and reduced dropout for students in higher education but not for those in high school. We argue that the higher prevalence of behavioral biases among the lower-educated could explain these contrasting findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Cockx, Bart & Declercq, Koen & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2023. "Tightening eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits. Impact on educational attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:95:y:2023:i:c:s0272775723000717
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102424
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Natalia Bermúdez-Barrezueta & Sam Desiere & Giulia Tarullo, 2025. "Hiring subsidies and temporary work agencies," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2025003, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    2. Dejemeppe, Muriel & Delpierre, Matthieu & Pourtois, Mathilde, 2024. "Hiring subsidies for low-educated unemployed youths are ineffective in a tight labor market," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1451, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Natalia Bermúdez-Barrezueta & Sam Desiere & Giulia Tarullo, 2025. "Hiring subsidies and temporary work agencies," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 25/1103, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    4. Bermúdez-Barrezueta, Natalia & Desiere, Sam & Tarullo, Giulia, 2025. "Hiring Subsidies and Temporary Work Agencies," IZA Discussion Papers 17616, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment insurance; Conditionality; Degree completion; School dropout; Behavioral biases;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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