Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The paper uses state-level data to examine changes in benefit availability since the Great Recession.  A number of states have tightened their eligibility requirements, restricting the number of unemployed workers who qualify to receive UI benefits.  Others have reduced the potential duration of benefits below 26 weeks which had been the consensus amount that all states met or exceeded from the mid-1970s to the late 2000s. Among the topics examined are an analysis of overall UI recipiency rates, changes in maximum benefit durations, and changes in exhaustion rates. The latter two topics will emphasize changes in states that have reduced maximum benefit duration since 2011.