“Permanent unemployment is much harder to solve... It's going to be a long slog getting folks back to work and it's not clear that we're going to get the kind of support from the government that we need, but I do think that policy can mitigate some...
"What's unusual is the initial stage of the recession impacted women more," said Stevenson. "What's normal in this recession is the ongoing negative effects tend to hit women. They face a double whammy, adding that to this massive child-care crisis...
More Detroiters have returned to work amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but many families continue to have difficulty affording basic necessities and worry more hardship is ahead.
That's according to the latest representative survey of Detroiters from...
On July 2nd, the Labor Department reported that 4.8 million jobs had been added, and unemployment stood at 11% - still higher than it was at the peak of the Great Recession in 2008 — with 17.8 million Americans still out of work. Ford School...
An article in Vox.com on June 5, reacting to the surprising drop in the unemplyment rate, quoted Ford School economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers :
"Betsey Stevenson, the former chief economist at the US Department of Labor and a...
Kristin Seefeldt, associate professor of social work and public policy and faculty by courtesy at the Ford School, says Michigan’s unemployment system was never set up to handle severe drops in unemployment. In an article on Mlive May 15, she was...
The rate of unemployment was recently recorded as 14.7%. Ford School economist Betsey Stevenson, who was Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Labor 2010-2011, says the real rate is actually higher. In a tweet quoted in an article in Forbes May...
More than 17 million Americans have applied for unemployment insurance in the wake of mandatory business closures protecting against COVID-19. Betsey Stevenson, professor at the Ford School, predicts that the number of unemployed Americans is...
With widespread shutdowns of businesses across the country due to COVID-19, states have seen a dramatic rise in the number of unemployed and those seeking unemployment benefits. This week, unemployment claims jumped 2000% in Michigan, putting the...
Although some worry that Medicaid expansion could discourage unemployed workers from seeking employment, a University of Michigan study found that Medicaid expansion did not affect whether unemployed workers found jobs.
In fact, the study found...
This June, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 6 million unfilled job openings--a record-breaking number. Today, Betsey Stevenson offered expert testimony at a Congressional Joint Economic Committee hearing on the topic: "A record six million U.S....
Betsey Stevenson speaks with economics correspondent Paul Solman for the May 11 Making Sense episode, “These industries are growing: Why are men staying away?”The episode, which aired on PBS NewsHour, explores how rare it is for men to pursue jobs...
Kristin Seefeldt’s (MPP '96, PhD '10) recent op-ed, featured in Making Sen$e on February 2, highlights the need to “fix the social safety need, not shame those who need it.”
Seefeldt notes that “the [social] safety net is perpetually under...
“It’s hard to know whom you can trust anymore—at least that’s the attitude of many Americans today. Therein lies a crucial challenge for the world’s largest economy,” writes Betsey Stevenson in “Want to Help the Economy? Learn to Trust,” published...
A research study by Sandra K. Danziger, Sheldon Danziger, Kristin S. Seefeldt, and Luke Shaefer, "From welfare to a work‐based safety net: An incomplete transition," was published in the November 2015 edition of the Journal of Policy Analysis and...
"The nation has not seen such hefty job gains since the late-1990s tech hiring boom," writes Patrice Hill in a July 3 article in the Washington Times, "Unemployment falls to 6.1 percent amid U.S. hiring surge." Hill cites the most recent Labor...
An article in the Detroit Free Press outlines the impact for Michigan if federal emergency unemployment benefits are not extended. The program is set to expire on December 28th unless Congress takes action. House and Senate Democrats have proposed a...
Justin Wolfers was quoted in a New York Times article, "College Graduates Fare Well in Jobs Market, Even Through Recession," which discusses data from a recent U.S. Department of Labor report.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the overall...
The Great Recession leaves behind the largest number of long-term unemployed people, or 4.7 million, since records were first kept in 1948, according to research from the University of Michigan."About 46 million Americans, according to our latest...
Join the Ford School for a two-day virtual symposium on June 16-17 on the future of our unemployment insurance (UI) system. Chaired by the Honorable Sandy Levin in partnership with Poverty Solutions Director Luke Shaefer, the symposium will consist of four panels featuring some of our nation's leading experts on UI.
Kathryn Dominguez is a Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a Professor of Economics, College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
