This report describes how the government can use widespread social media feedback and begin to build long-term measures to center people’s experience as an important component of policy design
This toolkit is designed to assist state and local TANF agencies in accessing, linking, and analyzing employment data from unemployment insurance (UI) systems.
This article examines how the decentralization of safety net programs after welfare reform has led to growing inequality in benefit generosity and access across U.S. states.
Errors in administrative processes are costly and burdensome for clients but are understudied. Using U.S. Unemployment Insurance data, this study finds that while automation improves accuracy in simpler programs, it can increase errors in more complex ones.
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.
In December 2024, the Digital Benefits Network released an updated open dataset on authentication and identity proofing requirements across various public benefits applications to highlight best practices and areas for improvement in identity management.
The Texting Playbook provides guidance and well-researched strategies to help state agencies implement texting in support of Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, and other benefits programs. It provides an overview of how to start texting clients; the types of messages to send, including real examples; Federal Communications Commision (FCC) policy guidance; how to encourage opt-ins and collect consent; how to avoid coming across as spam; and a cost analysis of texting.
