Economists weigh a new approach to unemployment insurance

Unemployment insurance is a lifeline for many people when work goes away. And when times get really bad in the U.S.—in recessions and during the COVID-19 pandemic—Congress has extended the duration of unemployment benefits ...

How to strengthen housing safety nets

U.S. homeowners and renters need stronger safety nets than existing social insurance programs provide to prevent housing insecurity during economic downturns, according to a new paper based on a study by Wharton real estate ...

High-income earners have sturdier safety net after job loss

In the spring of 2020, COVID-19 caused an estimated 22 million job losses (13% of the total workforce). Congress' new $900 billion pandemic relief package is the second largest in U.S. history, but it only extends federal ...

Jobless benefits only reached a quarter of laid off workers

Only a quarter of workers who were laid off or furloughed at the height of the pandemic lockdown actually received timely unemployment benefit, according to a survey by Shift Project researchers at Harvard Kennedy School ...

COVID-19 is hitting tipped workers hard

Even prior to COVID-19, tipped workers suffered from the inadequacies of the United States' social safety net and minimum wage standards.

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