02/23/22 - Tracking Re-Employment Patterns of Unemployed Workers During the Recovery

Tracking Re-Employment Patterns of Unemployed Workers During the Recovery

About the webinar:

Using administrative earnings and claims data, the California Policy Lab (CPL) has analyzed the outcomes of unemployment insurance claimants through the pandemic in a series of reports. This presentation summarizes highlights from these reports, with particular focus on reemployment patterns during the economic recovery. Among others, this includes how many workers found jobs, how many returned to their previous employers, and how many switched industries, as well as which groups of workers and which geographies most benefited from the recovery.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this activity, the learner will be able to:

  • Discuss reemployment patterns during the economic recovery
  • Describe how many workers found jobs, returned to their previous employers, and switched industries
  • Identify which groups of workers and which geographies most benefited from the recovery

Speaker: Till von Wachter, PhD

Till von Wachter is Professor of Economics at the University of California Los Angeles, Faculty Director of the California Policy Lab, Director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center, and Associate Dean for Research for the Social Science Division. Prof. von Wachter’s research examines how labor market conditions and institutions affect the well-being of workers and their families. This includes the analysis of unemployment and job loss on workers’ long-term earnings and health outcomes, as well as the role of unemployment insurance and disability insurance in buffering such shocks. Current research projects focus on the role of the Unemployment Insurance program before and during the Pandemic, the effects of minimum wages, as well as several projects on homelessness using administrative data from Los Angeles. Professor von Wachter’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Aging, the Social Security Administration, the Sloan Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Hilton Foundation, and Arnold Ventures. Prof. von Wachter has been an expert witness in numerous testimonies before committees of U.S. Congress, and has provided expert assistance to the City and County of Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Canadian Labor Ministry, the OECD, the United Nations, and the IMF.

About the CA Labor Lab:

The California Labor Lab is a collaboration among investigators at UCSF, UC Berkeley, and the California Department of Public Health. The Lab is housed at the Philip R Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF. Our mission is to extend the pursuit of health and safety for workers in traditional employment to those in a wide range of alternative arrangements in partnership with affected communities.


Click here to learn more about the Labor Lab.

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