This report combines research from many different sources, which are summarized below. It was compiled by Alyssa Levitz, Waldo Jaquith, and USDR but the underlying work was also done with the help of multiple volunteers and civil servants who can’t be publicly listed, but deserve credit for their work all the same.
We are indebted to the research that has come before us and are deeply grateful to those who have spent time speaking openly with us and given us the opportunity to support them.
USDR partnerships on 16 projects with 10 states, including:
A Discovery Sprint to help a state understand their backlog
Vendor analysis for online appointment scheduling
Interviews with:
Subject matter experts
NASWA
DOL and UI Leadership in 6 states, referred to as States A - F in this report
California EDD and Nevada DETR Strike Team Reports on the UI systems
Others’ detailed research:
“Centering Workers--How to Modernize Unemployment Insurance Technology” by Julia Simon-Mishel and Maurice Emsellem from Philadelphia Legal Assistance; Michele Evermore and Ellen LeClere from the National Employment Law Project; and Andy Stettner and Martha Coven from The Century Foundation.
“Story-driven experience research on pandemic unemployment” by Dana Chisnell of Project Redesign at the National Conference on Citizenship and Tara McGuinness of New America’s New Practice Lab
“Unpacking Inequities in Unemployment Insurance” by Monée Fields-White, Vivian Graubard, Alberto Rodríguez, Nikki Zeichner, and Cassandra Robertson from New America’s New Practice Lab
Unemployment insurance (UI) is a deeply complex political, legal, social, and technological space. In order to try to make sense of it, we have created a journey map to visualize not only how people interact with the system but how the system itself works, including what UI agencies have to do to administer it. UI systems have been underfunded for a long time, with challenges and vulnerabilities that were only exacerbated by the unprecedented volume of claims during the pandemic.
This report summarizes some of those challenges within the journey map framework, and provides recommendations for how states, the US Department of Labor, and other key actors could increase the effectiveness and efficiency of UI administration.
Journey maps are a way to visualize how users interact with a system. In Unemployment Insurance, there are four key user groups, each represented by a different color on the map:
People seeking UI benefits, “claimants” (light blue)
Government staff administering the program, “agency” (gray)
Companies that pay into the system, “employers” (gold)
Other government actors: Federal and State legislatures, Governors, and the US Department of Labor (dark blue)
Each box of the journey map represents a key step in the process. The unemployment insurance (UI) journey begins in the top left with a claimant trying to figure out whether they are eligible for any UI programs at all.
As claimants go through the process from left to right, the UI agency does a lot of work in the background. The agency takes direction from US Department of Labor as well as state-level stakeholders like State Legislatures and Governors; they also report back to those entities as directed. The agency also facilitates communication with employers where appropriate to help validate information provided by the claimant.
This map is not intended to be a complete picture of the UI system; for example, it doesn’t capture what happens if someone is found ineligible at any point. As our research continues, we expect to refine and expand this map over time.