Unemployment Insurance
Unemployment insurance was a critical part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, a lifesaver during a period defined by economic volatility, depressed wages, and record unemployment. Beginning in 1935 with the Social Security Act, short-term relief was provided for the unemployed to provide for their basic subsistence and maintain their purchasing power. Unemployment insurance generally lasts up to 26 weeks, although in the wake of the Great Recession the Obama Administation extended benefits to 99 weeks.
Cry Wolf Quotes
…we are going on the theory that it will create jobs. It will not. We shall create jobs only by giving confidence to people who are in a position to hire other people.
…it still is true that the young people of today in this country look to the people who have succeeded in spite of every handicap such as that, as their inspiration for doing things. I think we do not want to kill off that spirit of individualism. I use the term ‘individualism’; I know it is sneered at a lot, but I know if is still a respectable term and I think we ought to cultivate it instead of sneering at it.
The fundamental objection to the whole plan is that it is based on the false assumption, not merely that the world owes every man a living, but that employees in industry owe a living to every person who chances to be employed in that or any other industry.
Industrial corporations represent the principal source of livelihood of a very large percentage of our total population. Accordingly, any legislative program which impose unreasonable hardships on manufacturing industries will react to the detriment, directly or indirectly, of every taxpayer.
Evidence
-
San Francisco Fed Finds Unemployment Insurance Doesn't Significantly Contribute to Unemployment Levels
Unemployment insurance doesn't encourage people to stay jobless.
-
Moody’s Analytics Advocates Unemployment Insurance as Stimulus
For every $1 spent on unemployment benefits, GDP increases by $1.61.
-
Congressional Budget Office Says Unemployment Benefits Have Strongest Stimulative Effect
Unemployment benefits make macroeconomic sense during a recession.
Backgrounders & Briefs
Unemployment Policy Brief: Shermer
By Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, PhD, February 2010
Unemployment insurance benefits – including their length, eligibility, and expense – are again in the spotlight. The arguments are hardly new.
