Sample Concepts

Unemployment Insurance and Workforce

The following are examples of our concepts that can make dynamic improvements in UI and/or workforce programs. For some states only a portion of a concept or two may be beneficial and for others the choice of concepts may be more extensive.

1. Reemploy UI Claimants

Unemployment claimants can take twice as long to find work as the uninsured . During this time they normally try to get by with half of their former wage in benefits and rapidly spend what little savings they have. Studies show that there are a number of ways to speed up reemployment, but the key is to do so within state budgets while balancing the burden on state staff and employers, both of whom typically share the burden of verifying claimants’ work search efforts. We can help you:

• Leverage and inspire current staff efforts by getting all staff involved
• Improve employer connectivity and satisfaction with program integrity by making auditing serve the purpose of customer service
• Make work search requirements into meaningful opportunities for claimants reemployment by encouraging connections to a wide variety of internet job boards and meaningful training
• Maximize current technology by using Computer Based Training
• Optimize your current work search rules to support your efforts

2. Analyze and Implement Results-Driven Measures

Current Federal measures for unemployment insurance and the workforce systems are based primarily on process, rather than results. They often require state agencies to concentrate on lower priority goals rather than missional goals, such as effective job transitions and labor market connections. With a focus on measures that matter, we can help you:

• Utilize existing data sources
• Develop employer measures, such as job opening penetration rate, job order fill rate and employer satisfaction measures
• Develop claimant measures, such as 10 week placement rate, first spell duration and work engagement ratio

3. Enhance Employer Connectivity

Despite a work search requirement in most states, average duration is over four months. Over one third of UI claimants do not find a job before they exhaust their regular benefits, which often happens at six months. For the harder to place claimants who are discouraged and/or less marketable the solution is to subsidize jobs, not unemployment. We can help you:

• Utilize current funding, staff and law to implement the program without legislation
• Substantially reduce your duration and exhaustion rates by creating on-the-job training opportunities that are likely to lead to a job
• Drive economic development by subsidizing businesses that agree to custom-train claimants on-the-job for two to three months

4. Optimize the Impact of Your Online Services

Most state internet job boards have access to resume data for over 50% of unemployed job seekers, but few, if any, hold more than 10% of job openings with which to match their job seekers. This is because no single job board seems to make sense to all employers. In fact, there are over 40,000 job boards vying for job postings, some with annual advertising budgets of over a quarter billion dollars. We can help you:

• Dramatically expand the number of employers you reach with your connections
• Ensure your claimants leverage their UI application effectively to simultaneous register not only with the state Employment Service job board, but also the claimant’s choice of other willing partner job boards
• Utilize best practices in technology to not only make the job board user-friendly, but also effective in connecting job seekers with employers

5. Improve Your Trust Fund Balance

Over time Unemployment Insurance tax structures can develop unintended negative impacts on employers, employees and the economy. This can result in unstable trust funds, unfair taxation and higher unemployment. For example, studies show that 30% to 50% of temporary layoffs can be due to imperfect unemployment insurance tax structures. We can help you:

• Harmonize tax impacts with claims experience to build Trust Fund balances
• Smooth annual tax rate changes to provide more equity
• Equalize socialized costs so that your plan is transparent to employers
• Sustainably improve your Trust Fund balance by a combination of effective structure and responsive cost containment

Article: UI Tax Structure – Smarter Taxes