Why is there a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion?

Jan Boone, Jan C. van Ours and Jan C. van Ours
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jan van Ours

No 2840, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Putting a limit on the duration of unemployment benefits tends to introduce a “spike” in the job finding rate shortly before benefits are exhausted. Current theories explain this spike from workers’ behavior. We present a theoretical model in which also the nature of the job matters. End-of-benefit spikes in job finding rates are related to optimizing behavior of unemployed workers who rationally assume that employers will accept delays in the starting date of a new job, especially if these jobs are permanent. We use a dataset on Slovenian unemployment spells to test this prediction and find supporting evidence. We conclude that the spike in the job finding rate suggests that workers exploit unemployment insurance benefits for subsidized leisure.

Keywords: unemployment benefits; spikes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp2840.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Why is There a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion? (2012)
Working Paper: Why is there a spike in the job finding rate at benefit exhaustion? (2009)
Working Paper: Why Is There a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion? (2009)
Working Paper: Why is There a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion? (2009)
Working Paper: Why is There a Spike in the Job Finding Rate at Benefit Exhaustion? (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2840

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klaus Wohlrabe ().