"Trends in Unemployment Insurance Benefits" by Daniel P. McMurrer and Amy B. Chasanov, in Monthly Labor Review (Sept. 1995), Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

Suppose the government had money to give away, but hardly anybody took it.

Unbelievable as it may seem, that is an accurate description of the nation’s unemployment insurance system. Since the 1940s, the proportion of jobless people who receive unemployment benefits has dropped from about 50 percent to roughly 30 percent—even though unemployment coverage was extended to more than 90 percent of the population.

McMurrer and Chasanov, both policy analysts at the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, say that demographic changes provide much of the explanation. Beginning in the 1960s, the labor force was swollen by youths and women—groups historically less likely to file for benefits. And people in two-earner households, another rapidly increasing group, also seem to feel less urgency about filing. Another factor: the decline of manufacturing and of labor unions, which help members claim benefits.