Research

Publications and Accepted Papers

"Gender Segregation and Hiring in Japanese Labor Markets over the Business Cycle" (Accepted, Economic Analysis and Policy)

Abstract: Japanese employment norms strongly protect "regular'' jobs, which are predominantly held by men, while women are concentrated in "non-regular'' positions such as temporary or part-time jobs with fewer protections. This paper investigates how male and female hiring rates respond differently to labor market tightness within Japan's rigid two-track employment system. I find that female hiring is significantly more cyclical than male hiring. Although hiring into regular employment accounts for most of the aggregate hiring cyclicality, the gender difference arises almost entirely from hiring into non-regular employment. I show that this cannot be explained by the composition of industries and occupations, nor by gender-specific labor supply decisions. Instead, the evidence points toward firm-side selection as the primary mechanism. These findings suggest that labor market policies in Japan should aim to stabilize women’s hiring outcomes over the business cycle by addressing structural labor market segmentation and firm-side selection, especially during economic downturns.

"Why Don’t Eligible Workers Receive Unemployment Insurance?'', joint with Eliza Forsythe (Applied Economics Letters)

Forsythe, E., & Yang, H. (2026). Why don’t eligible workers receive unemployment insurance? Applied Economics Letters, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2026.2615173

Abstract: The Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is plagued by under-receipt. We investigate the reasons likely-eligible individuals do not receive benefits. We find this is largely driven by erroneous beliefs about ineligibility, which are correlated with proxies for worker sophistication and information access. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we find misinformation about eligibility increased dramatically surrounding the expiration of the extra weekly UI payments in August 2020, suggesting uncertainty about UI program extensions contributes to misinformation and suppresses program take-up.

Working Papers

"The Economic Impacts of Energy Transitions in Illinois" (with Zichang Liu)

"Policy Stability in the United States: Impacts on Firm Activity and Labor Markets"

"The Long-Term Wage Effects of Unemployment Rate at Graduation in Japan" 

Research In Progress 

"A Composite Approach to Quantifying Clean Energy Jobs in Illinois'' (with Peter J. Fugiel and Abhinav Banthiya)

" Cyclical Job Destruction, Human Capital Investment, and Gendered Sorting in Long‑ and Short‑Term Employment"

Reports and Other Writing

Forsythe, Eliza and Hesong Yang. “Understanding Unemployment Insurance Recipiency during the Covid-19 Pandemic” (2021) [Report prepared for the Department of Labor]

Report prepared for the Department of Labor Chief Evaluation Office Summer Data Challenge on Equity and Underserved Communities. http://publish.illinois.edu/elizaforsythe/files/2022/04/ForsytheYang_DOL.pdf