An Evaluation of the Feasibility of a Substate Area Extended Benefit Program

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to assess the feasibility of developing and operating a program of extended UI benefits at the substate level. In principle, extended benefits might be more effectively targeted toward workers who are experiencing severe difficulties in finding new jobs if the program could be initiated on the basis of local labor market conditions. The extent to which this improved targeting could be achieved in practice is an open question, however. Furthermore, a substate EB program might involve such considerable administrative complexity that the costs would outweigh whatever targeting advantages the program could provide. In this report we attempt to evaluate these tradeoffs.