Unemployment Insurance & its Antipoverty Effects

This book examines the antipoverty effects of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits over the past three recessions. The analysis especially focuses on the most recent recession, from which the economy has only just begun to recover. It highlights the impact of the additional and expanded benefits available to unemployed workers in response to the most recent recession. A period of unemployment greatly increases the odds that a worker and members of the worker’s family will be counted among the nation’s poor. A variety of social insurance benefits may be available for unemployed workers. UI benefits provide a cash supplement to replace a portion of lost wages to qualified unemployed individuals. Two main objectives of the joint federal-state unemployment insurance program are to provide temporary and partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers and to stabilize the economy during recessions.