National Employment Law Project

Federal Material | Specific Worker Initiatives | State Material | UI Publications by Type

Unemployment Insurance Safety Net Project

Working in support of state advocates and policy makers, NELP’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Safety Net Project promotes UI reforms that keep pace with the needs of today’s workforce.

Access to the nation’s UI safety net has failed to keep pace with the growing numbers of women, part-time and low-wage workers. However, with the support provided by NELP’s UI Safety Net Project, state advocates and policy makers have made significant progress in recent years exposing the gaps in the UI system and campaigning for state eligibility reforms. The Project provides in-depth assistance to state campaigns by evaluating state laws, proposing model policies, and generating the empirical research needed to best document the case for reform UI. The Project also provides its state network with timely updates and policy analyses of key UI initiatives, both at the state and federal levels. Read more about the Unemployment Insurance Safety Net Project.

Changing Workforce, Changing Economy documents how states are bringing their jobless safety nets into line with shifts in the workforce, and provides model legislation and reform policies to improve UI benefits, eligibility, financing and administration. Click here Arrows

INNOVATIVE STATE REFORMS SHAPE NEW NATIONAL ECONOMIC SECURITY PLAN FOR THE 21st CENTURY NELP's plan for a new national system of economic security

Unemployment Insurance Advocates Discussion Group

Specific Worker Initiatives
NELP’s resources have been tailored to several categories of workers who are unfairly denied access to the UI system, including low-wage workers, part-time and temporary workers, women and caregivers, the long-term unemployed and immigrant workers. Most recently, we have added a new section on those unemployed due to Hurricane Katrina.

State Resources
State policies, more than federal laws, determine who collects unemployment benefits and how the UI system is funded. To effectively support UI reform initiatives, NELP has generated resources specifically geared to the demands of state advocacy, including model legislation, materials about expanding UI access, UI financing, and a clickable map of individual state analyses.

Federal Resources
Key UI policies are forged at the national level as well. Rules are established by the U.S. Department of Labor that regulate civil rights enforcement and the administration of state programs, while proposals are initiated in Congress to extend unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed and adopt other federal reforms. Resources tailored to these and other timely federal initiatives are available from NELP.

UI Safety Net Publications
NELP’s UI Safety Net Project seeks to communicate the case for reform of the UI system to a broad audience of state advocates, researchers, lawyers, legislators, agency officials, individual workers (including immigrants), and the press. NELP resources have been tailored to communicate with these and other key constituencies.