Point about unemployment benefit initially causes hesitancy (5)
I believe the answer is:
doubt
'hesitancy' is the definition.
(doubt can mean to hesitate over something)
'point about unemployment benefit initially' is the wordplay.
'point' becomes 'dot' (synonyms).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'unemployment benefit' is 'ub'.
'dot' placed around 'ub' is 'DOUBT'.
'causes' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for doubt that I've seen before include "Hesitate to believe" , "Uncertainty about the truth" , "Feeling of uncertainty about something" , "Don't be so sure!" , "Question the truth or accuracy of" .)