The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report highlights the disproportionate hardships faced by Black and Latina mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by systemic inequities.
This report investigates how D.C. government agencies use automated decision-making (ADM) systems and highlights their risks to privacy, fairness, and accountability in public services.
This webpage from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provides guidance on improving mobile usability for Unemployment Insurance (UI) systems to enhance customer experience and accessibility.
This Issue Spotlight explores the challenges that recipients of public benefits programs offering cash assistance encounter in accessing funds through financial products or services, with a specific focus on assistance provided on prepaid cards.
The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its induced recession underscored the crucial importance of unemployment insurance (UI) to workers, and to the stability of the American economy. Temporary federal expansions of unemployment systems during the pandemic showed how they can quickly be scaled to increase benefit levels and to include categories of workers who were not previously eligible, such as the self-employed, caregivers, and low-wage workers. And, states showed that separate programs can be set up to provide similar benefits to workers who are explicitly excluded from unemployment insurance—in particular immigrants who do not have a documented immigration status.
This article explores ongoing efforts to modernize state unemployment insurance (UI) systems, addressing long-standing inefficiencies and challenges exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report summarizes findings and observations on the implementation of Phase 1 of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Open UI Initiative, highlighting effective strategies, challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for supporting states’ UI modernization efforts.
This article explores innovative strategies to improve access to public benefits by reducing administrative barriers and leveraging technology for a more user-friendly experience.
New America’s New Practice Lab discusses insights into racial inequities within the Unemployment Insurance System, and provides recommendations its framework for rectifying inequality in policies and programs moving forward.
Dana Chisnell describes work leading a team of researchers to interview people from across the US on their experiences applying for unemployment and other benefits during the pandemic.
