Beyond Income Support: The Impact of Unemployment Insurance on Parental Engagement

This study examines how Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit generosity shapes parental time investment, particularly within households experiencing job-related instability. While the economic impacts of UI have been widely studied, its role in supporting family dynamics and caregiving behaviors remains underexplored. Using a difference-in-differences approach and data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and Current Population Survey (CPS) from 2003 to 2022, this study investigates whether more generous UI policies enable parents—especially mothers—to maintain or increase time spent with their children following employment disruptions. The analysis focuses on both the quantity and quality of parental time, distinguishing between primary, secondary, and enriching childcare activities. By interacting state-level unemployment rates with maximum UI benefit durations, the model estimates how economic context and policy generosity jointly influence caregiving behavior. Preliminary patterns suggest that more generous UI policies may help buffer families from the immediate tradeoffs between labor market pressures and caregiving responsibilities. Early results indicate a potential shift in how parents—particularly mothers—allocate time following employment shocks, with suggestive evidence of increased engagement in both total and enriching forms of childcare in higher-UI states. These effects appear more salient during periods of elevated unemployment and may vary by parents’ education, and household structure. While still exploratory, these findings point toward a broader role for UI in supporting caregiving capacity during periods of economic disruption. By highlighting the potential spillover effects of UI beyond income replacement, this study contributes to a growing body of work at the intersection of social insurance and family well-being. Findings offer timely insights for ongoing policy debates about how to design unemployment systems that better account for caregiving demands and family resilience.