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Who helps the unemployed? Workers’ receipt of public and private transfers

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  • Edwards Kathryn Anne

    (RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, USA)

Abstract

I use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to measure the extent to which an unemployment spell increases the likelihood that a worker receives a cash transfer from family. I examine the prevalence of cash transfers from family, the demographic distribution of unemployed receivers, and the variation between family supported and not family supported spells. I further investigate how this informal, private assistance relates to public transfers from Unemployment Insurance using state-by-year variation in the UI program. I find that unemployment increases the probability a worker receives financial assistance from their family, inclusive of all demographic subgroups, that family cash transfer receipt is growing over time, and is weakly related to UI availability.

Suggested Citation

  • Edwards Kathryn Anne, 2020. "Who helps the unemployed? Workers’ receipt of public and private transfers," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-26, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:izajle:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:26:n:1
    DOI: 10.2478/izajole-2020-0004
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; unemployment insurance; transfers; racial inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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