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Part-time unemployment and optimal unemployment insurance

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  • Susanne Ek
  • Bertil Holmlund

Abstract

A significant fraction of the labor force consists of employed workers who are part-time unemployed (underemployed) in the sense that they are unable to work as much as they prefer. This paper studies the design of optimal unemployment insurance in an economy with unemployment as well as part-time unemployment. Part-time work provides income insurance and serves as a stepping stone to full-time jobs. Unemployment benefits for part-timers reduce the outflow from part-time work to full-time employment. However, such benefits also increase the outflow from unemployment to part-time work, thereby reducing unemployment. We examine the optimal structure of benefits for unemployed and underemployed workers. The results indicate that there are welfare gains from part-time benefits. Moreover, there are welfare gains associated with time limits for unemployment benefits as well as for part-time benefits. The welfare gains from optimal insurance are larger when wages are fixed than when they are flexible. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Ek & Bertil Holmlund, 2015. "Part-time unemployment and optimal unemployment insurance," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 201-223, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:22:y:2015:i:2:p:201-223
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-013-9301-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Kyyrä, Tomi & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Rosholm, Michael, 2013. "The effect of receiving supplementary UI benefits on unemployment duration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 122-133.
    2. Anna Godøy & Knut Røed, 2016. "Unemployment Insurance and Underemployment," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(2), pages 158-179, June.
    3. Caliendo, Marco & Künn, Steffen & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2016. "Earnings exemptions for unemployed workers: The relationship between marginal employment, unemployment duration and job quality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 177-193.
    4. Kyyrä, Tomi & Pesola, Hanna & Rissanen, Aarne, 2017. "Unemployment Insurance in Finland: A Review of Recent Changes and Empirical Evidence on Behavioral Responses," Research Reports 184, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Susanne Ek Spector, 2022. "Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 199-199, June.
    6. Auray, Stéphane & Lepage-Saucier, Nicolas, 2021. "Stepping-stone effect of atypical jobs: Could the least employable reap the most benefits?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Tito Boeri & Pierre Cahuc, 2022. "Labor Market Insurance Policies in the XXI Century," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03878719, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job search; Part-time unemployment; Unemployment insurance; J64; J65;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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