The Labor Department (DoL) went public with its latest plans to modernize unemployment insurance (UI) programs that it operates with state government partners, and requested that Congress do its part by funding the plan.

Senate Finance Committee leadership released a bipartisan framework of legislation on Feb. 8 that would make key improvements to the nation’s unemployment insurance (UI) system, including the implementation of new technology.

Nevada has embarked on a $72 million modernization overhaul of its unemployment insurance (UI) system.

The Labor Department is launching a new program to better understand and fix gaps in unemployment insurance (UI) system access by tapping into state data to get better insights into UI system service problems.

Now that the Federal government, via the Department of Labor (DoL), has signed up to put $2 billion of stimulus-related funding into shoring up beleaguered state unemployment insurance (UI) systems overpowered by the jobless claim surge due to coronavirus pandemic, Federal and state officials discussed how those efforts will roll out during a panel discussion at MeriTalk’s State Tech Vision virtual program on September 15.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, state unemployment insurance (UI) systems have been stressed to their limits, and have been used to help nearly 53 million workers nationwide.