Research Findings

Unemployment Rates for Men and Women Age 55–64, Nov. 2007 to Jan. 2012 (%) (not seasonally adjusted)

The recession has increased joblessness among older Americans. These graphs and tables report unemployment rates and how they have varied by age, sex, race, and education since 2007. Read More

Employment Changes Since Start of Recession by Sector: Manufacturing Percent Change in Manufacturing Employment Share: 2007 to Present

The Great Recession has led to uneven job losses, and these losses vary by industry and metro.  Because some metros are now left with a new and different industrial mix and nobody knows whether the pre-recession distribution of job opportunities will return, it’s important to consider what might happen if the change is permanent. Read More

Taxable Wage Proportions in 2009

This issue brief examines the unprecedented funding problem of state unemployment insurance (UI) programs. The majority of UI programs (36 of 53) have borrowed, securing record loan amounts to maintain unemployment insurance benefit payments during 2009-2011. It identifies the causes of the funding problem, discusses borrowing options for states and describes policy responses at both the state and federal levels. State actions have included both tax increases and benefit reductions. Federal policy proposals have addressed the low UI taxable wage base in most states and have offered partial debt forgiveness in return for state actions to improve solvency. To date, policy actions have been slow at both the state and federal levels of government. Read more

Aggregate Reserve Ration, 1960 to 2010

This paper examines the unprecedented funding problem of state unemployment insurance (UI) programs. The majority of UI programs (36 of 53) have borrowed, securing record loan amounts to maintain unemployment insurance benefit payments during 2009-2011. It identifies the causes of the funding problem, discusses borrowing options for states and describes policy responses at both the state and federal levels. State actions have included both tax increases and benefit reductions. Federal policy proposals have addressed the low UI taxable wage base in most states and have offered partial debt forgiveness in return for state actions to improve solvency. To date, policy actions have been slow at both the state and federal levels of government. Read more

Percentage Change in Employment by State

Labor market deterioration during the Great Recession has been both substantial overall and unevenly distributed across regions and types of workers. In particular, low-skill workers have lost proportionately more jobs than other workers nationwide and done particularly poorly in a number of states. This fact sheet shows the loss of low-skill jobs by state over the recession and how it compares to overall job losses by state. Read more

Unemployment: Top 100 Metros (July 2011)

While the Great Recession and sluggish recovery have meant sustained high unemployment in metros nationwide, those in states hardest hit by the housing crisis, such as Florida, Nevada, and California, have suffered the most. Read more

Unemployment Lasting Three or More Weeks by Family Status, 2005 and 2009 (percent)

The vast majority of unemployed families received some help from core safety net programs in 2009. Among those experiencing unemployment, receipt of unemployment benefits doubled between 2005 and 2009. Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) also increased. Public Assistance played a limited role in unemployed families' lives. About 15 percent of low-work, unemployed families got no help from the safety net. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 clearly helped to strengthen the safety net. This extra help has mostly ended, leaving many families to contend with high unemployment and a frayed safety net. Read more

Job Losses More Abrupt and Severe than in Past Recessions

This brief provides information on what we as a country can do about unemployment by drawing together information presented in three UI forums about ways to jumpstart the job market, how younger and older workers are faring in and after the recession, and how the safety net needs to be retooled in times of high unemployment. The text below is . Read more

Poverty by Weeks of Unemployment in 2010

Poverty is higher among the unemployed. In 2010, 30 percent of the long-term unemployed were poor, and 66 percent of single parents unemployed more than 26 weeks were poor. Read more

Poverty and Unemployment Over 40 Years

The U.S. Census Bureau has announced that the poverty rate jumped to 15.1 percent in 2010, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 and 13.2 percent in 2008. This 18-year high still understates the dire straits of many Americans today. The devastation of poverty grows more severe over time as individuals exhaust private resources and temporary benefits. Read more

Change in Employment as a Percentage of Employment in September–December 2007 by Skill Category

In the sluggish recovery, less-educated workers, especially those with a high school degree or less, continue to lose jobs at a substantial rate. This factsheet presents employment changes in the recession and recovery by skill level and industry showing that those with less than a high school degree were hit hardest, even in low wage industries. Gains in the recovery have been concentrated among workers with a college education. Read more

TANF Expenditures, Selected Years from 1997 to 2009 (billions of 2009 dollars)

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation's cash assistance program for poor families with children, has not played much of a countercyclical role during the current recession. As unemployment has risen, TANF caseloads nationally have grown much more slowly and state TANF caseloads have not tracked state unemployment growth. Program rules and financing structures limit the responsiveness of TANF in a downturn. As TANF reauthorization is considered, this brief details some relatively small changes that could improve the program's effectiveness in future recessions. Read more

Percentage Change in SNAP Enrollment by State, 2007–10

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) provides assistance to millions of families in the US. This fact sheet describes how, as unemployment rates have climbed, so have the rates of SNAP receipt — among older families, families with children, and single adults. Read More

Estimated Impact of the Great Recession on Average Age-70 Income, Adults Age 55 to 59 in 2008, by Income Source (%)

The financial impact of the 2007–2009 recession will reverberate into retirement for many working families, even those who did not lose their jobs. Average wages grew very slowly during the downturn, reducing lifetime earnings. Lower earnings leave less income to set aside for retirement and depress future Social Security and pension incomes. Although unusually strong wage growth in coming years could bail out younger workers, there is little recourse for workers now approaching traditional retirement ages. For those age 55 to 59 in 2008, the Great Recession will reduce average age-70 incomes by 5 percent. Read More