In Support of Better Demographic Data Collection on Unemployment Insurance Claims

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) submits this comment in support of proposed revisions to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) form 5159, which would collect data on unemployment insurance (UI) claims and payments using updated definitions for race or ethnicity, sex and/or gender, level of educational attainment, as well as a new field capturing incomplete claims.

We further recommend expanding the information collection request to include data on claimants’ preferred language, disability status, military status, and geography of residence (urban/suburban/rural) in order to provide additional insight on disparities in UI claims and payments.