In 2022, there are approximately 1,200 strikes in the United States. Each lasting an average duration of 10.83 days. In response to this phenomenon, numerous states have contemplated implementing alterations to their state unemployment insurance (UI) programs, with the primary objective of extending UI benefits to workers actively participating in strikes. Traditionally, most states, with the exception of New York, have excluded strike workers from eligibility for UI benefits. In this paper, I rely on state-level variations in the stringency of UI provision concerning labor disputes to empirically assess the labor market impact of providing UI benefits to strike workers. Our findings reveal that granting UI benefits to strike workers leads to a 30-50 percent increases in reservation wage and hourly wage of UI recipients. However, it does not yield a significant increase in the frequency of strikes within these states.
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