Work Incentives of Unemployment Insurance Benefits

This study examines the design of unemployment insurance systems with respect to their potential to promote the take-up of employment or to perpetuate unemployment. Based on economic theory and international and national empirical evidence, the study compares the design elements of different unemployment insurance systems with key indicators of labour market performance. With regard to Austria, the effects of specific reform scenarios on the number of recipients, on the level of subsistence benefits and on the budget allocation for unemployment insurance and the means-tested minimum income (or social assistance) systems are simulated.