Unemployment Insurance is the main U.S. government program that helps workers who lose a job through no fault of their own. By paying eligible workers a portion of their normal wage while they look for work, Unemployment Insurance mitigates the hardship faced by individual unemployed workers and simultaneously stabilizes the macroeconomy. Equitable Growth works to stimulate and disseminate research on the role Unemployment Insurance plays in the lives of workers and the economy as a whole.
Featured work
Expanding eligibility for Unemployment Insurance helps low-income U.S. workers find better jobs
December 9, 2025
December 9, 2025
Equitable Growth hosts Econ 101 virtual event on how U.S. social insurance programs boost economic mobility
December 1, 2025
December 1, 2025
Changing earnings requirements for Unemployment Insurance could improve access and better support U.S. workers
October 24, 2024
October 24, 2024
What is social infrastructure, and how does it support economic growth in the United States?
January 26, 2023
January 26, 2023
In conversation with Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
October 6, 2020
October 6, 2020
Explore Content in Unemployment Insurance168
The only thing better than strengthening federal social supports now to prevent a coronavirus recession is strengthening them forever
March 17, 2020
March 17, 2020
The U.S. economy is in a tailspin—policymakers must do everything they can to protect workers and their families
March 13, 2020
March 13, 2020
What the historically low U.S. unemployment rate means for women workers
March 5, 2020
March 5, 2020
Rebuilding U.S. labor market wage standards
February 18, 2020
February 18, 2020
Earnings instability and mobility over our working lives: Improving short- and long-term economic well-being for U.S. workers
February 18, 2020
February 18, 2020
‘OK, Boomer’: How millennials have been left behind in the recovery from the Great Recession
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019
Planning for the next recession by reforming U.S. automatic stabilizers
May 16, 2019
May 16, 2019
A Valentine’s Day love letter to the Unemployment Insurance program
February 14, 2019
February 14, 2019
The macro-effects of unemployment insurance: A simulation-based discontinuity design approach
July 25, 2018
July 25, 2018
Sources of displaced workers’ long-term earnings losses
February 1, 2018
February 1, 2018
Firm and market shocks, wage risk, and the protection provided by government institutions: evidence from IRS tax data
July 5, 2017
July 5, 2017
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