Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, stated, “I want to see receipt of unemployment insurance . . . go up in recessions.” If government unemployment insurance payments didn’t go up,
he explains, it “would be a sign that something’s very
wrong.” What would be very wrong about government
unemployment insurance payments failing to rise during a recession? What would be the consequences for the
unemployed and for the economy?
Source: Jared Bernstein, “Lessons of the Great Recession: How the
Safety Net Performed,” New York Times, June 24, 2013.