Unemployment insurance, unemployment duration and reemployment : microeconometric evaluations.

Summary The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the impact of Unemployment Insurance on individual trajectories using French administrative data. The first chapter studies the consequences of the 2003 reform on senior unemployment. The econometric analysis is based on a combined Discontinuity Regression and Difference-in-Differences approach. The results obtained show a significant reduction in unemployment durations following the adoption of the reform. The second chapter proposes an evaluation of the Reduced Activity scheme. This system allows the unemployed to cumulate part of their benefits with wages from temporary jobs. The estimation of a multivariate duration model makes it possible to isolate the causal effect of the system while taking into account the potential endogeneity of the duration of reduced activity and the attrition phenomenon. The impact on transitions to employment appears relatively modest. Nevertheless, the observed effect is more important for jobseekers experiencing difficulties in re-entering the labor market. Finally, the third chapter considers the link between the generosity of the benefit and the recurrence of unemployment spells. The main results indicate that past benefit generosity does not have a persistent effect on the duration of unemployment spells. This is essentially explained by individual heterogeneity and the conditions of compensation that individuals receive when they register as unemployed.