This report explores the Maine Department of Labor’s (MDOL) remarkable response to this layoff through collaboration with the Peer Workforce Navigator project—a coalition of community-based organizations in partnership with the MDOL—which made a huge difference in the lives of these laid off workers. The report also examines aspects of the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) system that might be improved to account for similar situations in the future.
A case study documenting how a human-centered claimant portal was developed for the New Jersey Department of Labor (NJDOL) to modernize unemployment insurance access using agile development and API technology.
Building modular, open-source, human-centered software is necessary to create equitable government services fit for the digital age. Nava emphasizes addressing large scale digital service challenges by building and releasing small, modular software components that are loosely-coupled by well-defined APIs. This enables agencies to quickly and conistently deliver services that help people immediately, whilst also building a flexible foundation for long-term technical evolution.
This case study highlights a collaborative effort to enhance Nevada’s unemployment insurance (UI) program by simplifying claimant-facing communications and improving user experiences through behavioral science and human-centered design.
National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA)
Clearing applicant backlogs is an important solution to the UI crisis. State governments and federal agencies could facilitate access to public benefits by collaborating to develop interoperable technology platforms that use open source software and modular design. Panelists discuss opportunities to prevent future UI crises by reimagining how governments deliver benefits to their citizens.
This section of the Building Resilience plan outlines strategies to expand access to unemployment insurance (UI) for underserved populations and improve benefit adequacy through system reform, outreach, and data-driven equity efforts.
A case study of the Hawai‘i Career Acceleration Navigator — an accessible, data-driven and full-service government platform for unemployed people and other jobseekers to search for jobs and access supportive service benefits.
This paper concludes that the substantial COVID-19 unemployment insurance expansion had limited disincentive effects on job searches, particularly among lower-income individuals, despite high wage replacement rates.
The UI Technology Coordinating Coalition hosted a virtual conversation on April 13, 2023 focused on recent developments in unemployment insurance (UI) modernization efforts with guests from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of UI Modernization and the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
