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Employment and Unemployment

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An individual's education, age, and health status may present barriers or opportunities to employability, just as a region's economy, tax base, and number of immigrants and emigrants may affect job availability. RAND research examines the impact of a range of policies and forces—personal, regional, and global—on employment and unemployment.

Commentary

Should Mothers Work? We've Been Asking the Wrong Question

May 10, 2021

As schools and day cares closed due to the pandemic, millions of women were driven from the labor market. What is it worth to the United States to have mothers in the workforce?
Commentary

Inequality in Opportunity to Work from Home an Underlying Condition Likely Aggravated by the Pandemic

May 14, 2021

Building a safe, healthy workforce where success, productivity, and financial security are available to all segments of American society could provide resilience against inevitable future shockwaves. Since working from home is a key part of such resilience, policymakers could focus on supporting the advantages, remediating the downsides, and expanding access to this form of work.

Explore Employment and Unemployment

Journal Article

The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Employer-Sponsored Insurance for Low-Income Workers and Dependents

Minimum wage increases lead to reductions in employer-sponsored insurance coverage in families with incomes below 300% of the federal poverty level.

Jul 28, 2021
Commentary

How the Coronavirus Changed the Childcare Debate

Policymakers have long had evidence that childcare enables mothers to work. What the COVID-19 pandemic taught everyone is how the lack of childcare can be a disastrous constraint.

Jul 26, 2021
Report

Evaluation of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership Program: Report on the Second Stage of Analysis

In this second-phase study on the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP) program, the authors analyzed jobs on the MSEP Career Portal in 2016, interviewed participating employers in 2016, and then surveyed and interviewed spouses in 2019.

Jul 21, 2021
Commentary

Charting a Path Forward for College Athletes to Receive Pay

The NCAA has long restricted what student athletes could receive in education-related benefits. But a recent Supreme Court ruling may be a step toward allowing athletes to access the income that their labor produces.

Jul 9, 2021
Journal Article

Improving Working Conditions Using Artificial Intelligence

This analysis discusses evidence on the expected impact of AI on jobs, the potential for AI to create decent jobs, and the extent to which AI offers opportunities and poses risks to working conditions.

Jun 8, 2021
Multimedia

RAND Remote: Changing Unemployment and the Post-Pandemic Workforce

In this RAND Remote conversation, Kathryn Edwards discusses ways the pandemic is changing how we treat unemployment. She describes options for workforce recovery, including drawing women workers back into the labor force.

Apr 29, 2021
Report

Barriers to Entering the U.S. Middle Class

Achieving and keeping middle-class status has become more difficult. Jobs with good pay for those without a college degree are getting exported or eliminated. Earning educational credentials is costly. Existing jobs are increasing education requirements, providing fewer benefits, and may not lead to longer-term careers.

Apr 22, 2021
Commentary

Colombia's Trailblazing Model for Refugees

Colombia recently announced it will give temporary protection status to a million undocumented Venezuelan refugees, with permission to live and work in the country for 10 years. In doing so, it created a new model for managing its own refugee situation and perhaps others elsewhere.

Mar 26, 2021
Blog

Supporting Asian Americans, U.S. Gun Policy, Climate Migrants: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how to support Asian Americans, the U.S. gun policy debate, the education “arms race,” and more.

Mar 26, 2021
Report

Evaluation of IPS Grow: Final report

IPS supports people with serious mental illness into employment. This evaluation examines the uptake and perceptions of support from IPS Grow by IPS services. We also examine the impact that different support had on different services.

Mar 24, 2021
Commentary

Will States Take the Wrong Lesson About Unemployment Insurance's Failings?

By shoring up all state-run Unemployment Insurance programs equally, Congress set a precedent that it will intervene to raise benefits at no cost to state trust funds. From the states' perspective, why hike taxes on businesses to maintain robust unemployment benefits if Congress will step in when the economy goes south?

Mar 18, 2021
Commentary

Arts Policy During the Pandemic: What Are We Measuring, and What Can We Know?

Few data sources exist for the labor market for artists. Of the sources that do exist, each measures a different piece of a larger puzzle. Those studying the arts labor market will have to grapple with which data source to use and how “the arts” should be defined before undertaking any analysis.

Mar 8, 2021
Dissertation

Exploring the Influences of External Factors on the Veteran Disability Compensation Program

Explores factors affecting the performance and scope of the veteran disability compensation program.

Feb 23, 2021
Blog

Unemployment Insurance, Domestic Extremists, Housing Insecurity: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what the pandemic has revealed about America's unemployment system, why stopping domestic extremism will be difficult, how housing insecurity may affect sleep, and more.

Feb 5, 2021
Commentary

The Pandemic Is Completely Changing the Way We Treat Unemployment

Unemployment insurance is the most important fiscal response the United States has during a recession, because it sends timely, targeted, and temporary financial assistance to those directly affected by the downturn. What the CARES Act created—remarkably high benefits for more workers—was a short-term experiment born of necessity, but it could have a lasting influence on public policy.

Feb 1, 2021
Testimony

Reimagining the Workforce Development and Employment System

Rather than staying in one field with one skill set for an entire career, today's workers may need to reskill as labor markets evolve. How could an integrated system better support students, workers, and employers?

Jan 26, 2021
Commentary

Helping Mothers Return to Work Is a Gender Equality Issue

Employers and policymakers play a crucial role in ensuring that women are not unnecessarily disadvantaged when they have children. Policies such as access to family leave, job protection, and childcare options can play a large role.

Jan 21, 2021
Commentary

Supporting Working Parents Could Accelerate Recovery

Since the COVID-19 recession started last February, almost 3 million women have left the labor force. With vaccines rolling out, will they go back to work? There are several policies that could help.

Jan 15, 2021

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