Peter Orazem, university professor, was interviewed for a June 14 Radio Iowa story, "$300 federal unemployment bonus ends in Iowa Sunday."
Governor Reynolds ordered the change, which took effect Sunday. Iowa State University economist Peter Orazem says since Iowa is one of the first four states ending these payments early, it’s a bit of a “national experiment” on unemployment benefits.
“It will be a relatively unusual opportunity for us to see the extent to which those unemployment benefits actually matter for whether or not people are interested in accepting employment,” Orazem says.
“The employment loss in Iowa was smaller than the national average and yet the decline in labor force participation was greater than the national average,” Orazem says. “I wish I had an answer for that, but I think you have to say that that’s just puzzling.”
This story also covered by
Des Moines Register, June 23