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June 18, 2024
Answering Key Questions About Unemployment Insurance Reforms
…system to better support American workers, businesses, and taxpayers. My name is Matt Weidinger, and I am a Rowe Scholar in poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, I…
June 17, 2024
Fixing the Roof on Sunny Days—and Other Lessons in Administering Unemployment Benefits
A recent hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare confirmed that the financing of the nation’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is enormously complicated. Even the…
April 29, 2024
New “Scorecard” Report Promotes Better Use of Data to Prevent Unemployment Fraud
…those data are used to evaluate system functioning, efficiency, and readiness for surges in claims—and to prevent future fraud attacks. In a new follow-on report released today (Measuring What Matters: Context and Recommendations…
April 29, 2024
Measuring What Matters: Context and Recommendations to Improve Reporting on Unemployment Insurance
Key Points This report explores the unemployment insurance system’s current data and performance management practices, including features designed to inform policymakers and the public about deficiencies in the administration of…
February 29, 2024
Recalling Pandemic Lessons on “Self-Certifying” Eligibility
Sometimes what is left unmentioned can be far more important than what is said. A good example is obscure guidance issued last week by the US Department of Labor (DOL) encouraging workforce…
January 29, 2024
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud in Context: Causes, Costs, and Solutions
Key Points The nation’s unemployment benefits system, which was significantly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, suffered unprecedented losses to fraud and improper payments. Official—and still partial—estimates of improper payments approach…
November 20, 2023
The Next Time States Are “Swimming in Money” Make Them Repay Their Federal Loans
The pandemic was full of firsts, including the first time states received hundreds of billions of federal dollars they could use to shore up their depleted state unemployment insurance (UI) programs. The…
September 29, 2023
Solutions to Reduce Government Improper Payments Involving Unemployment Benefits
…pandemic. Read the full response here. [1] Department of Labor, “Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims,” July 9, 2020, https://oui.doleta.gov/press/2020/070920.pdf [2] For a discussion of the involvement of international criminal organizations, see Matt Weidinger,…
September 5, 2023
Audit Finds California Continues to Mismanage Unemployment Benefits
A scathing report released by the California State Auditor on August 24 finds that the state’s Economic Development Department (EDD) continues to mismanage the unemployment insurance (UI) program, resulting in “a substantial…
September 1, 2023
Despite Staggering Improper Payments, New Labor Department Report Calls for Reviving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
As America prepares to celebrate Labor Day, it’s timely to wonder what the US Department of Labor (DOL) has been up to. One noteworthy recent action was DOL’s August 21…