Speaker: Robert Breunig

Date & time: Tuesday 31 October 2023, 2.00pm–3.30pm

Venue: Lennox Seminar Room, 132 Crawford Building, 1 Lennox Crossing, ANU

This is the first study to evaluate effects of early pension withdrawal on unemployment duration in the COVID-19 context. We use novel, linked population administrative records to examine 529,703 Australians who became unemployed in the initial pandemic months. Receiving a lump sum of up to A$10,000 from superannuation accounts in the April-June 2020 period resulted in a 32 per cent lower exit rate from unemployment inside the first six months on benefits, and 14 per cent inside a year of spell. Receiving A$10,000 in July – December, either as a first or second payment, generated a similar increase in unemployment duration.

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