Unprecedented increases in unemployment insurance (UI) claims and dramatic changes in UI delivery across the U.S. in recent years stress the importance of understanding the wide-ranging effects of UI receipt. We estimate the short-run effect of UI on suicide and drug overdose mortality following mass layoff events. Using quarterly county-level data from 1995-2010 and leveraging interactions between state-specific UI generosity and mass layoff events, our two-way fixed effects models and event studies show that more generous UI reduces suicide at the county level. These mitigation effects coincide with otherwise large spikes in mortality following mass layoff events in local communities. We find no effect on drug overdose deaths.