Unemployment Insurance

Since its inception in 1935, the unemployment insurance (UI) program in the United States has operated as the primary safety net for those who involuntarily lose their jobs. Although the UI system's broad guidelines were established by federal law, UI essentially operates as a state-level program. Each state determines its own rules governing matters such as benefit levels, eligibility, and revenue, resulting in substantial variations between the states' policies. The premier national work on state unemployment compensation is done at the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

EARN Group Reports of Note:

California Budget Project

• California's Unemployment Insurance System Is Broke and Desperately Needs Both Short and Long Term Fixes (April 2004)

Center for Public Policy Priorities (Ohio)

• Unemployment Insurance Legislation a Step in the Right Direction for Working Texans (February 2003)

Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute

• Colorado Unemployment Insurance Quiz (March 2003)
• UI Quiz Answer Sheet (March 2003)
• Colorado Unemployment Insurance At A Glance (March 2003)

Fiscal Policy Institute (New York)

• New York State Workers’ Compensation: How Big Is the Coverage Shortfall? (January 2007)
• Modernizing New York's Unemployment Insurance System (June 2000)

Indiana Institute for Working Families

• Supporting work in a Changing Economy: Options to Modernize Indiana’s Unemployment Insurance System (February 2005)

Institute for Wisconsin's Future

• Unemployment Insurance Reform

Iowa Policy Project

• Out of Work, Out of Luck (March 2002)

Keystone Research Center (Pennsylvania)

• Unemployment Claims Rising in Pennsylvania (November 2001)

Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute

• Maryland Unemployment Insurance: Underfunded and Out of Date (February 2003)
• Fixing Maryland's Unemployment Safety Net (February 2003)
• Reforming Maryland's Unemployment Insurance Taxes (August 2003)

Minnesota Budget Project

• Research Review: Unemployment
  Minnesota Budget Bites (January 2003)
  Minnesota Budget Bites (November 2002)
• Minnesota Legislature Provides Additional Assistance to Unemployed (July 2002)
• Improving Access to Unemployment Insurance (October 2000)

Nex Mexico Voices for Children

• Unemployment Insurance Reform (December 2006)

Policy Matters Ohio

• Policy Matters Ohio Testifies on Unemployment Compensation and Social Security (April 2007)
• Ohio's Job Market Remains Tepid (July 2006)
• Ohio Excludes Many from Unemployment Compensation (February 2006)
• A Proposal to Protect Jobless Older Ohioans (January 2006)
• Unemployment Compensation: You Must Make Even More to Qualify in 2006 (December 2005)
• Policy Matters Testifies on Unemployment Compensation Tax Avoidance (April 2005)
• Unemployment Compensation: You Must Make More to Qualify in 2005 (December 2004)
• Unemployment Compensation in Ohio: Protecting a Critical Safety Net for Working Families and the Economy (September 2004)
• Ohio Unemployment Insurance Falling Short: New National Report Card Gives Ohio an "F" (March 2002)
• Unemployment isn't Working: A Proposal to Better Insure Ohio's Workers (September 2001)

National Resources

Economic Policy Institute

National Employment Law Project

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