Our nation is experiencing dramatic, and accelerating, economic change. Jobs that once provided a lifetime of employment are rare today, replaced by jobs with higher turnover, more unequal pay, and fewer fringe benefits. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing, while service-sector and temporary jobs are increasing.
The nation’s workforce is evolving in major ways. Women’s employment is increasing, and working women often furnish the sole support for their families or work part-time jobs while fulfilling household responsibilities. African-American, Latino, and other people of color account for a growing share of the workforce and often find themselves working harder for wages and benefits insufficient to support their families. In an environment of rapid globalization, sweeping technological change, and a focus on the corporate bottom line, job insecurity is widespread.
These forces of change require a fundamental shift in the nation’s unemployment insurance program, created as part of the New Deal to help jobless workers stay afloat while looking for new work. If it is to fulfill its basic purpose, unemployment insurance must change to keep pace with changes in our economy and in our workforce. For many jobless workers, state unemployment insurance programs often fail to live up to their purpose. During the latest recession, less than half of jobless workers received unemployment benefits in 40 states. And unemployment insurance benefits are often inadequate for those jobless workers who do receive them.
The good news is that a movement has taken hold in the states to get the unemployment insurance program back on track. In the past five years, nearly half of the states have adopted UI reforms that fill gaps in this safety net. Many states have changed policies that too often had denied benefits to low-wage, part-time and women workers. States have raised the weekly benefit amount and taken other significant steps to make this program meet the needs of a greater share of jobless workers and their families.These recent state efforts provide a track record for policymakers and advocates in every state to promote a new vision of the unemployment system, one that modernizes the program to meet the needs of today’s changing economy.This publication provides essential resources for this growing movement. More...
