Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Evaluations of programs that help the uninsured find jobs usually show lower Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments. The evidence of lower UI benefits paid is consistent with either (i) the stated causal pathway: faster return to work, or (ii) an alternative causal pathway: suspending or terminating claims—perhaps due to failure to comply with program requirements—but not faster reemployment. Empirical evidence to date on employment and earnings effects is limited and mixed. Abt Associates, under contract to USDOL/Chief Evaluation Office, conducted an evaluation of a reemployment and support program (the now sunsetted REA/Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment Program) in four states. Drawing on the experience of more than a quarter of a million randomly assigned claimants, the presentation examines the impact of these programs on UI benefits paid, time to employment, and earnings—and how those impacts vary across the four states.