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The calculator computes the benefits of a worker without dependendents as of January 2020. It also can be used to simulate alternative policies, such as Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.
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Many states have complex UI benefit rules. We follow the rules described in ["Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Laws"](https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/content/sigpros/2020-2029/January2020.pdf). This document, and therefore our calculator, do not capture every aspect of a state's UI rules. A dictionary of the features used by the calculator can be found in [`data_dict.md`](data_dict.md).
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Many states have complex UI benefit rules. We follow the rules described in ["Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Laws"](https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/content/sigpros/2020-2029/January2020.pdf). If a state has multiple ways of satisfying eligibility or multiple ways of calculating benefits, we include only the first listed way. This document, and therefore our calculator, do not capture every aspect of a state's UI rules. A dictionary of the features used by the calculator can be found in [`data_dict.md`](data_dict.md).
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### Acknowledgements
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If you find a problem, please open a github issue or even better propose a fix using a pull request.
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Thank you to Maya Sweedler for helpful feedback.
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### License
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This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
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|`wba_2hqw`| minimum earnings in two highest quarters as a multiple of the weekly benefit amount |
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|`abs_2hqw`| minimum dollar amount in two highest quarters |
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|`hqw_2hqw`| minimum in two highest quarters as multiple of high quarter wages |
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## State Specific Notes
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Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wyoming all include statewide averages as part of their calculations. We use averages [from the BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm).
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Colorado, Minnesota and New York have benefits schedules which change if the worker's income is in excess of a particular amount. We include the `inc_thresh` variable explained above to account for this.
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New Hampshire benefits are set to 1% of annual wages. This is the lower bound of the range of 1% - 1.1% in the Significant Provisions document. We could not readily find information on how the range between 1% and 1.1% is determined.
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North Dakota has a `wage_concept` which is not common to any other states and is coded as `ND` and described in the `wage_concept` table above.
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Alaska, Pennsylvania and Utah all have replacment rates which vary with income as a result of a fixed payment (or deduction) from the benefit. This is coded in the `intercept` column.
Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: source/data_dict.Rmd
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output: github_document
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---
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## Computation of Weekly Benefit Amount (state_thresholds.csv)
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## Computation of Weekly Benefit Amount (`state_thresholds.csv`)
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Most states have a linear benefits schedule as a function of some measure of earnings (`base_wage`) which is subject to a maximum (`max`) and minimum (`min`) benefit amount. That is we define:
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Every state computes benefits using a `rate`, which is the ratio of weekly benefits to
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a measure of prior earnings (`base_wage`). We calculate:
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`wba_formula = base_wage*rate + intercept`
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and caclulate:
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This computation is subject to a maximum (`max`) and minimum (`min`) benefit amount.
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Scenario | Weekly Benefit Amount
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--- | ---
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`wba_formula < min` | `min`
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`min < wba_formula < max` | `wba_formula`
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`wba_formula` > `max` | `max`
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The `wage_concept` records how the `base_wage` should be calculated and has five possible values:
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`wage_concept` | Value of of `base_wage`
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`wage_concept` | Value of `base_wage`
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--- | ---
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`annual_wage` | annual wages
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`hqw` | wages in highest quarter
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Finally, some states have different benefits schedules depending on whether the income of an applicant is over a particular threshold. This is captured by `inc_thresh`. The `inc_thresh` variable records the minimum income as measured in the `wage_concept` for that row, such that the rules in that row should be applied to calculate benefits.
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## Earnings/ Employment Needed in Base Period to Qualify (state_eligibility.csv)
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## Earnings/ Employment Needed in Base Period to Qualify (`state_eligibility.csv`)
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We assume that the base period is the calendar year of 2018. We do this because it matches what we observe in the CPS. This would correspond to the standard base period for an applicant in April, May or June of 2019. The DoL summary document for UI benefit rules says
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“Almost all qualifying earnings are determined using a base period consisting of the first four of the last five completed CQs. A few States use a different base period. In the following states, more recent earnings may be used in an alternative base period under certain conditions: AK, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, HI, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PR, RI, SC, SD, UT, VT, VA, VI, WA, WV, and WI.”
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