Study Finds Higher Unemployment Benefits Extend Jobless Duration in Spain

Economists Ana M. Silva, José M. Arranz and Carlos García-Serrano analyzed how Spain's unemployment-benefit reforms of 2012 and 2023 influenced job-search behavior. Drawing on SEPE records, they noted that eligibility requires involuntary job loss and at least twelve months of contributions in the prior six years, with benefit duration capped at two years and the monthly amount based on a replacement rate. The 2012 reform lowered the rate after the sixth month from 60% to 50%, which cut average unemployment duration by roughly fifteen weeks.

Conversely, the 2023 reform raised the rate back to 60%, extending average unemployment by about two and a half weeks. The impact was concentrated among claimants whose benefit levels shifted markedly, while those already at legal minima or maxima showed minimal behavioral change.