Improving Unemployment Insurance by Example

When COVID-19 hit the U.S., business and daily life halted as people knew it. In April 2020, more than 18 million Americans were on temporary layoff status. People who applied for unemployment  benefits to access critical aid faced many problems getting assistance they needed to survive. These problems included: 

• Confusing paper forms that often had to be mailed in
• A website that was hard to access for mobile users, people who spoke English as a second language, and people with disabilities 
• Uncertainty on their status after submitting a claim
• Confusing notices of award that showed $0 in benefits
• Unnecessarily complex security questions 
• Confusing instructions for submitting the correct ID forms 

Individual states — facing a surge in applications — worked tirelessly to help applicants navigate the process while also combatting an unprecedented wave of fraudulent activity. In a rush to help applicants get the support they needed, many states tried new processes and learned a lot about what was — and was not — working. The New Practice Lab partnered with Bloom Works to document successes across states and share it so other states might benefit from those lessons learned (ImproveUnemployment.com)

Read more about the case study here (from Bloom Works).