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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

The Great Resignation: American Workers Suffering a Crisis of Meaning

Oct 26, 2021

Americans are quitting their jobs in record numbers, creating significant shortages of workers for businesses. To understand and address this issue, policymakers might need to pay attention to noneconomic factors in addition to economic ones.
Commentary

Married Moms Aren't Striking Workers, but They Are Saying the Same Thing

Nov 1, 2021

If we are in the middle of a labor shortage, recruiting people back into the labor force is key to sustaining a recovery. The historic work choices of married mothers reveal a lot about what might lure people back into the workforce.

Explore Employment and Unemployment

Commentary

Unemployment Insurance and the Failure to Reform

Unemployment Insurance is the primary U.S. policy tool for sustaining workers during periods of high unemployment. But it has a history of being repeatedly neglected. Federal reform has been stalled for nearly 50 years.

Jan 5, 2021
Commentary

Without Unemployment Benefits, How Might Americans Make Ends Meet?

Do unemployment benefits keep people from accepting jobs? What effect do they have on the economy? Researchers and policymakers have been debating these issues since COVID-19 led to widespread job losses last spring.

Dec 30, 2020
Commentary

Teleworking During the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights Educational Inequity

The ability to telework is associated with both reduced risk of COVID-19 infection and with significantly lower risk of job loss. There are large disparities in who is able to telework by race and ethnicity—but even larger ones by educational attainment.

Dec 23, 2020
Multimedia

Was Unemployment Insurance Designed to Exclude Black Workers?

RAND economist Kathryn Edwards discusses whether the exclusion of Black workers in the design of the unemployment insurance program was incidental or intentional.

Dec 21, 2020
Blog

RAND Commentary Highlights of 2020

The roughly 400 op-eds and blog posts published by RAND researchers during the year reflected an enormous variety of expertise and perspectives, from remote education to election cybersecurity to the economic harms of racial disparities. Here are 10 highlights that landed in high-profile news outlets.

Dec 18, 2020
Blog

Americans' Financial Struggles, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Virtual Schools: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Americans' ongoing financial struggles, how we can learn from the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations, why virtual schools may be here to stay, and more.

Dec 18, 2020
Commentary

COVID-19 Gave Managers a Look at Our Home Lives. Will They Now Penalize Women?

The pandemic gave managers a window into the struggles of working women. What will they do with this information? Will they accommodate women by making exceptions to their established norms? Or will they do the harder work of remaking their culture so women are no longer the exception?

Dec 14, 2020
Report

Estimating the incidence of a housing affordability gap across the Cambridge travel-to-work area

The aim of this study is to estimate the number of households living in the Cambridge travel-to-work area that fall into a housing affordability gap, i.e. earn below £45,000. Almost half (48.4%) of these households fall in the gap, varying locally.

Dec 9, 2020
Blog

Supporting Working Women, the Intelligence Community, Refugees: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on supporting America's working women, challenges facing the next Director of National Intelligence, how Syria's forever war is creating forever refugees, and more.

Dec 4, 2020
Report

How Telecommuting Is Changing During the Pandemic

The ability to telecommute at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic saved many workers' jobs. Some of them are now returning to their workplaces, but most who can telecommute continue to do so. Telecommuting is also spreading to such occupations as health care and sales. Are these changes likely to persist after the pandemic?

Dec 3, 2020
Journal Article

After Parental Leave: Incentives for Parents with Young Children to Return to the Labour Market

This study examines the employment situation of parents with young children in the EU and specifically, the factors that affect parents' return to the labour market.

Nov 25, 2020
Commentary

Women Are Leaving the Labor Force in Record Numbers

The economic downturn during the pandemic is affecting women workers measurably harder than men. There were 2.2 million fewer women in the labor force in October 2020 than there were last October. Investing in childcare and expanding labor laws could keep women employed and buoy the entire economy.

Nov 24, 2020
Blog

Schools and COVID-19, Health Care Resources, Leaving Afghanistan: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on allocating scarce but lifesaving resources during a pandemic, insights from America’s educators, the lopsided telework revolution, and more.

Nov 20, 2020
Commentary

The Lopsided Telework Revolution

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a transition to telework, protecting the jobs and the health of those whose work can be performed remotely. Creative policies in a post-pandemic world are needed to help more broadly distribute the benefits of increased remote work.

Nov 16, 2020
Report

How Is COVID-19 Changing Online Shopping Habits?

Americans' online shopping habits have continued to shift during the pandemic. By August 2020, more people were shopping online, and 39 percent reported spending more money on their purchases. People who spent less were likely to have lost employment.

Nov 10, 2020
Commentary

Five Strategies to Address Employment Hurdles Faced by Young Syrian Women Refugees

Young Syrian women refugees face enormous challenges in finding meaningful work in host countries, with many relying on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs. How can employment obstacles be addressed for young Syrian women refugees in a post–COVID-19 environment?

Oct 30, 2020
Commentary

Sitting It Out? Or Pushed Out? Women Are Leaving the Labor Force in Record Numbers

Added to long-standing challenges such as securing child care and combating pay disparities, the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit women workers measurably harder than men. The consequences highlight just how much policy has failed to keep up with women's progress.

Oct 23, 2020
Blog

Election Interference on Twitter, Insulin Prices, Remote Learning: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on evidence of interference in the 2020 election on Twitter, U.S. insulin prices compared to those of other countries, how parents can help their kids' education stay on track during the pandemic, and more.

Oct 9, 2020
Commentary

Unemployment's History with Black Workers

There's a long-standing accusation leveled at the U.S. unemployment insurance system: that it's structurally racist, deliberately discriminatory from the outset, and remains so today. That claim has been met with doubt. But why doesn't unemployment insurance treat all workers and all earnings the same?

Oct 5, 2020
Blog

How Russia Targets U.S. Elections, Black Workers and COVID-19, TikTok: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how Russia targets U.S. elections, Americans' increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic, Black workers and COVID-19, and more.

Oct 2, 2020

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