Trend and Cycle Analysis of Unemployment Insurance and the Employment Service

Abstract

This report traces historical developments in two major DOL programs: State Unemployment Insurance (UI) and the federal-state Employment Service (ES). Developments in the UI program are traced from the late 1940s while ES program activities are traced from the late 1960s. For both programs, the report emphasizes long term trends as well as changes that have occurred over the course of the business cycle. The analysis uses annual data and is conducted at three levels of geographic detail: national, regional and state. A major objective of the project was to create data files useful for other researchers in studying the UI and ES programs. For both programs, data were assembled to be delivered to DOL and for transmission to archival repositories such as the Employment Data Center at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Key deliverables for the project were spreadsheets with state, regional and national detail that span extended time periods since World War II.