Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/98594 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 14-207
Publisher: 
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI
Abstract: 
Following the Great Recession, most states' unemployment insurance (UI) trust funds became insolvent, requiring the states to borrow from the U.S. Treasury to finance benefit payments. This article describes the basics of UI financing and reviews the origins of the financial crisis facing the federal-state UI system. It then examines the main components of the UI payroll tax-the taxable wage base and the experience-rated payroll tax-and considers how these might be modified to avoid future widespread insolvency. We conclude with some speculative remarks on the future of UI financing.
Subjects: 
unemployment insurance
trust fund insolvency
payroll tax
JEL: 
H2
J65
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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