In September 2020, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, our unemployment rate was 7.9% and there were only 123 million full-time employees in the U.S. workforce. This was a significant decrease from a year earlier, when there were 131.7 million full-time employees. However, these figures did not count the number of unemployed people who have stopped looking for work or those who are underemployed. If these people were included, our actual unemployment rate would be nearly double what it is actually reported to be. In 2020, we passed several trillion-dollar stimulus packages which most economists agree helped slow our economic slide. Unemployment insurance is a major element of our government’s response to the economic dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed in March 2020 to, in part, expanded states' ability to provide unemployment insurance for workers impacted by the pandemic. However, over the years, some states including Florida, North Carolina, Alabama and Kentucky have either erected administrative hurdles that dramatically reduced both recipiency and access to unemployment insurance, or were unprepared for the massive demand for these benefits. As states began locking down populations and closing businesses in response to the pandemic, out-of-work Americans made beelines to their labor departments, many of which have struggled to process a surge in unemployment claims that overwhelmed state systems. This created backlogs that left many applicants waiting three months or more to receive benefits. Advocates say we need to upgrade state unemployment insurance systems to be able to process a surge in benefit claims in a timely manner.

Pending Legislation: S.490 - Unemployment Insurance Technology Modernization Act of 2021
Sponsor: Sen. Ron Wyden (OR)
Status: Senate Committee on Finance
Chair: Sen. Ron Wyden (OR)