Department Of Labor To Modernize, Reform State Unemployment Insurance Systems

With more money comes more responsibility. The U.S. Department of Labor is creating an office to help states manage the $2 billion in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. 

What Happened: The office is meant to work with state unemployment insurance systems to “prevent and detect fraud, promote equitable access, ensure timely benefits payments and reduce backlogs.” 

During the summer of 2020, an unemployment insurance backlog occurred in many states as people flocked to get unemployment benefits after being laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic. States like Nevada had more residents than ever request insurance benefits, and places like Michigan only had higher insurance claims during the Great Recession. 

Last month, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh told The Hill the pandemic highlighted the need for states to modernize unemployment insurance benefit systems and “exposed significant vulnerabilities in state technology to criminals looking for an opportunity.”

Yvette Meftah, who began working in the Office of the Secretary of Labor since 2009, was appointed by Walsh to head the new office.

What Else: There was more news from the Department of Labor this week. 

The trend for unemployment insurance continued downward, with 340,000 total claims, or 14,000 less than in the prior week. 

The unemployment rate has remained steady at 2%, but there are still about 12 million people receiving some sort of unemployment benefits. 

Photo: Scott Graham via Unsplash.