scholarly journals Distributive Consequences of Risk Privatization: The Case of the Swedish Unemployment Insurance System

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-235
Author(s):  
Jayeon Lindellee
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
The Public ◽  
Insurance Benefit ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
Unemployment Insurance Benefit ◽  
Income Insurance ◽  
Unemployment Insurance System ◽  
Retail Workers

Abstract The public unemployment insurance program in Sweden has retrenched in terms of its benefit generosity in the last three decades. As a response to this trend, in which an ever-smaller proportion of the previous income of unemployed persons is compensated by public unemployment insurance benefit, complementary income insurance schemes provided by unions have expanded rapidly in the last 15 years, currently covering one half of the working population. What does this change mean for people who need income protection upon unemployment and are more likely to find themselves unemployed or underemployed? By analyzing survey-based benefit recipiency data among retail workers who were unemployed in 2014, this article explores the outcomes of the multi-pillarized unemployment benefit provision system in Sweden. While public unemployment insurance benefit does not fully compensate for the income loss for the majority of retail workers, the promise of a complementary income insurance scheme seems to be illusory for many individuals as they repeatedly oscillate between precarious work and benefits, accompanied by the burden of navigating a complex system.

scholarly journals The Effect of Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits: Evidence from the 2012–2013 Phase-Out

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 171-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry S. Farber ◽  
Jesse Rothstein ◽  
Robert G. Valletta
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Labor Force Participation Rate ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Insurance Benefit ◽  
Unemployment Insurance Benefit ◽  
Phase Out ◽  
Job Finding

Unemployment Insurance benefit durations were extended during the Great Recession, reaching 99 weeks for most recipients. The extensions were rolled back and eventually terminated by the end of 2013. Using matched CPS data from 2008-2014, we estimate the effect of extended benefits on unemployment exits separately during the earlier period of benefit expansion and the later period of rollback. In both periods, we find little or no effect on job-finding but a reduction in labor force exits due to benefit availability. We estimate that the rollbacks reduced the labor force participation rate by about 0.1 percentage point in early 2014.

scholarly journals Transformation of the Ghent System in Sweden: Silent Institutionalization of Complementary ­Unemployment­ Benefits

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayeon Lindellee
Keyword(s):  
Governance Structure ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Occupational Groups ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
Income Insurance ◽  
Insurance Funds ◽  
Employment Transition ◽  
Risk Protection ◽  
The Unemployed

The Swedish public unemployment insurance program is characterized by its governance structure involving union-linked insurance funds, famously known as the Ghent system. This paper argues that the unions’ strongly entrenched interest in the provision of unemployment benefits has continued to shape the establishment and expansion of complementary benefits for the unemployed in multiple forms, including bilateral Employment Transition Agreements between employers’ organizations and unions (occupational pillar) and privately provided complementary income insurance benefits mediated by unions (private pillar). The paper accounts for this multi-pillarization process of the Swedish unemployment benefit provision system and how the unions’ involvement has come to take multiple forms. The paper also discusses distributive implication of this union-led development of the complementary pillars, which reinforces the differences in risk protection between different occupational groups and sectors.

scholarly journals Equity in Unemployment Insurance Benefit Access

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. O'Leary ◽  
William E. Spriggs ◽  
Stephen A. Wandner
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Insurance Benefit ◽  
Unemployment Insurance Benefit

Rise up and Work! Workless People with Impaired Health under Germany's New Activation Regime

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Brussig ◽  
Matthias Knuth
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Unemployment Insurance System ◽  
Impaired Health ◽  
New System

‘Unemployment Benefit II’ (Arbeitslosengeld II) is the newly created benefit in Germany for workless and needy people of working age who either lack or have exhausted entitlements in the contribution-based unemployment insurance system. This paper explores the effects of an ‘activating’ benefit regime on respondents with inferior health-related capacities by re-analysing data from a recent customer panel survey of this population of recipients. For one, the overall level of activation produced by the new system is differentiated with regard to the health status of the target population. Second, the effects of activation on two employment-related outcomes are estimated, taking health into account.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document