Unemployment insurance

Unemployment insurance is a public program that replaces part of an eligible worker’s income during periods of unemployment, subject to rules on eligibility and benefit duration.

Unemployment benefits: Cash payments provided to eligible people who are unemployed. These payments are the direct income replacement the program provides.
Unemployment insurance in the United States: The federal-state system that provides temporary benefits to eligible unemployed workers in the United States. Its structure grew from the Social Security Act and state-level administration.
Extended unemployment benefits: Additional weeks of unemployment payments available when ordinary benefit periods are insufficient, often during recessions. Extensions keep support available when prolonged downturns exhaust standard benefits.
Unemployment assistance: Public cash support for unemployed people that is generally based on need rather than prior insurance contributions. Unlike contributory insurance, assistance can provide a separate safety net for people without qualifying work histories.
Automatic stabilizer: A fiscal policy feature that cushions economic fluctuations without requiring new legislation for each change. Benefit claims rise in downturns, supporting household spending as employment falls.
Eligibility for unemployment benefits: The legal and administrative conditions a person must meet to receive unemployment benefits. Eligibility rules determine which jobless workers the program covers.
Social Security Act of 1935: A United States law establishing major social insurance programs, including federal support for state unemployment compensation. It created the federal framework that encouraged states to establish unemployment programs.
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance: A United States program created in 2020 that extended unemployment aid to workers ordinarily excluded from state benefits. It temporarily covered self-employed and other workers outside conventional eligibility rules.
Means-tested benefits: Public benefits whose eligibility or amount depends on an assessment of income or assets. Unemployment insurance commonly relies on work and job-loss conditions instead of household means.
Moral hazard: A change in behavior when protection from a risk reduces the cost of taking that risk. Benefit design can affect incentives to accept work or continue searching.

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