Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

7-2026

Abstract

This study investigates the short-term impacts of unemployment among older workers (aged 50–62) in Singapore, a setting with-out public unemployment insurance. Using monthly panel data from the Singapore Life Panel, we analyse dynamic effects onmajor life outcomes such as income, spending, health, and subjective wellbeing over 2 years post-unemployment. Our findingsreveal substantial initial earnings losses with incomplete recovery: income remains 50.7% below pre-unemployment levels after24 months. Despite this persistent income gap, total household expenditure declines by 9.8% on average over 2 years (rangingfrom 7% to 16% across months). The implied two-year marginal propensity to consume is about 0.182, smaller than estimates incountries with more extensive social insurance, consistent with partial self-insurance mechanisms. We observe increased retire-ment and self-employment but no significant spousal earnings response. While health status remains largely unchanged, we findsubstantial declines in life satisfaction.

Keywords

unemployment shock, consumption spending, event study design, monthly panel

Discipline

Asian Studies | Labor Economics

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Areas of Excellence

Sustainability

Publication

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics

First Page

1

Last Page

43

ISSN

0305-9049

Publisher

Wiley

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