Climate change is already costing people their jobs. Hurricanes and wildfires can close businesses for weeks or months, while extreme heat cuts working hours in construction, agriculture, and warehouses. These shocks can leave workers suddenly without a paycheck or without a job to return to. At the same time, the shift to clean energy is reshaping local economies, especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries. Together, these changes are exposing the limits of an unemployment insurance system built for nationwide recessions, not localized climate disasters or long-term industrial transitions.
This seminar explores how unemployment insurance can be updated to respond more quickly and effectively through reforms such as partial benefits, stronger reemployment services, and triggers tied to local labor markets. We will also examine how labor-market modeling can identify the workers and regions most at risk—and whether today’s safety net helps them recover or leaves economic shocks to ripple through communities.
The EconClimate Lab advances forward looking economic policy ideas that make energy policy benefit workers, communities, and the American economy.
The conversation will be moderated by Heather Boushey, professor of practice at the Kleinman Center and former member of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist to President Biden’s Investing in America Cabinet.
Participants:
Michele Evermore
Senior Policy Fellow for Economic Security and Worker Transitions, National Employment Law Project (NELP)
Michele Evermore leads NELP’s efforts to modernize social insurance systems and protections. At the U.S. Department of Labor in the Biden administration, Michele served as Deputy Director for Policy in the newly formed Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization.
Professor of Social Policy
Ioana Marinescu is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice with secondary appointments in the Economics Department and the Wharton School of Business (BEPP).
Professor of Practice
Heather Boushey is a professor of practice at the Kleinman Center. Boushey served in the Biden administration as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist to the President’s Investing in America cabinet.