Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment?

Susanne Ek

IZA World of Labor, 2022, No 199v2, 199

Abstract: A considerable share of the labor force consists of underemployed part-time workers: employed workers who, for various reasons, are unable to work as much as they would like to. Offering unemployment benefits to part-time unemployed workers is controversial. On the one hand, such benefits can strengthen incentives to take a part-time job rather than remain fully unemployed, thus raising the probability of obtaining at least some employment. On the other hand, these benefits weaken incentives for part-time workers to look for full-time employment. It is also difficult to distinguish people who work part-time by choice from those who do so involuntarily.

Keywords: active labor market policies; part-time work; part-time unemployment; partial unemployment insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J64 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Journal Article: Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment? (2015)
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