What happens when unemployment benefits run out? (with Ioana Marinescu)

Right now, 26.3 million workers are either on unemployment or waiting to be approved for unemployment benefits. But for many of these jobless workers, the clock is running out on their eligibility to receive unemployment — and with no stimulus bill in sight, we could be entering a grim new phase of this recession. What will happen to the economy when unemployment insurance runs out? What will happen to the people who rely on those benefits? Economist Ioana Marinescu helps Nick and Goldy understand what the near-future of unemployment benefits looks like in the U.S. 

Ioana Marinescu is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She studies the labor market to craft policies that can enhance employment, productivity, and economic security. 

Twitter: @mioana

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Further reading:

Emergency unemployment programs will expire at year’s end, putting millions at risk: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/business/emergency-unemployment-programs-will-expire-at-years-end-putting-millions-at-risk.html 

Policy Basics: How many weeks of unemployment compensation are available?: https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/policy-basics-how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-compensation-are-available 

30 weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic and workers desperately need stimulus: https://www.epi.org/blog/30-weeks-in-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-workers-desperately-need-stimulus/ 

Unemployment insurance and job search behavior: http://www.marinescu.eu/publication/marinescu-unemployment-2020/ 

You can’t afford to live anywhere in the United States solely on unemployment insurance: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2020/09/10/490265/cant-afford-live-anywhere-united-states-solely-unemployment-insurance/ 

With millions of people out of work, the Senate’s inaction is not only cruel, it’s bad economics: https://www.epi.org/blog/with-millions-of-people-out-of-work-the-senates-inaction-is-not-only-cruel-its-bad-economics/ 

Scraping by on benefits and part-time work, but a cutoff looms at year’s end: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/business/scraping-by-on-benefits-and-part-time-work-but-a-cutoff-looms-at-years-end.html 

How America gave up on fighting the pandemic and saving the economy: https://www.vox.com/21523204/coronavirus-unemployment-stimulus-economy 

8 million have slipped into poverty since May as federal aid has dried up: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/us/politics/federal-aid-poverty-levels.html 

Pelosi sends letter to Secretary Mnuchin on areas still awaiting responses from White House: https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/102920 

Slowdown in jobs added means we could be years away from a full recovery: https://www.epi.org/press/slowdown-in-jobs-added-means-we-could-be-years-away-from-a-full-recovery/ 

Exclusive: America’s true unemployment rate: https://www.axios.com/americas-true-unemployment-rate-6e34decb-c274-4feb-a4af-ffac8cf5840d.html 

Young workers hit hard by the Covid-19 economy: https://www.epi.org/publication/young-workers-covid-recession/ 

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