1. Unemployment Insurance (UI)
Benefits:
The Essentials
UnemployedWorkers.org’s
Resource Guide
for the Unemployed
UnemployedWorkers.org

2. Thoughts from Past Presidents
“No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its
human resources. Demoralization caused by vast
unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it
is the greatest menace to our social order.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
“I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society
until people who are willing to work have work. Work
organizes life. It gives structure and discipline to life.”
Bill Clinton
UnemployedWorkers.org

3. Why do we have
unemployment benefits?
UnemployedWorkers.org

4. Why do we have unemployment benefits?
• First US UI program established in
1931 in Wisconsin. In 1935, Congress
passed the Social Security Act,
which also encouraged the creation
of state UI programs.
• First national UI program was
established in the United Kingdom in
1911.
UnemployedWorkers.org

5. Why do we have unemployment benefits?
• Before national programs were
established, labor unions and
municipalities had established local
and regional UI programs that gave
partial coverage.
• Governments enacted UI plans to
help individual workers through
periods of unemployment, but also to
minimize the negative impact of
unemployment on society.
UnemployedWorkers.org

6. Who gets benefits?
UnemployedWorkers.org

7. Who gets benefits?
• no fault
• must have lost your previous job through 'no
fault' of your own after earning a minimum
amount of wages within the 18 months before
you lost the job.
• not eligible
• youth, farm labor, domestic workers, self
employed, contractors, informal sector,
freelancers, voluntary quits
• graphic needed: percentage of jobless eligible
for UI benefits over time
UnemployedWorkers.org

8. Best Use of Stimulus Funds
UnemployedWorkers.org

9. Best Use of Stimulus Funds
• When times are tough, governments
boost spending to stimulate the
economy. Cash to the unemployed is
an excellent method of delivering
that stimulus, in comparison to (what?
proof?)
• Most recipients of benefits receive
them for X months
UnemployedWorkers.org

10. Best Use of Stimulus Funds
• Republicans and Democrats have
historically supported extended
benefits AND stimulus spending
in a recession
• graphic: some illustration of how
$1 in UI spending results in $x
in helping the economy.
UnemployedWorkers.org

11. How is
Unemployment
Funded?
UnemployedWorkers.org

12. How is unemployment funded?
• Regular unemployment benefits are paid for by
taxes
• Point: We earn it. It’s not a “giveaway”
• ER’s pay a small tax to the Federal
Government which goes into a trust fund –
from this, states are allocated $ to run the
programs
• $56 per year plus a $14 surtax – not a lot
of money, but it goes a really long way
UnemployedWorkers.org

13. How is unemployment funded?
• ER’s also pay a tax to the state trust fund –- -this is the
money the states use to pay benefits
• Your payment is based on an “experience rating” – meaning
that employers who have more frequent turnover in workers
pay more per worker than those who don’t have a lot of
turnover. Want to reward employers who don’t “churn”
employees
• This is $ that ER’s look at in the bottom line of how much
each employee costs.
• So it is money that is part of your “compensation” even if you
never see it until you lose your job – in other words, this
isn’t a handout or welfare – it’s something you’ve EARNED.
UnemployedWorkers.org

14. Who is eligible?
&
How are benefits
determined?
UnemployedWorkers.org

15. Who is eligible?
• Lost job thru no fault of your own and did not
voluntarily quit for a disqualifying reason
• No misconduct and define what constitutes
misconduct
• Define voluntary quit and its basic exceptions
• Had sufficient earnings during the “base
period”
UnemployedWorkers.org

16. How are benefits determined?
• Base period is usually some portion of the last
18 months –want people who are sufficiently
connected to the workforce
• Continue to be able and available to work &
actively looking for work
• Designed to be a program to transition people
to a new job (not for people who decide to not
work)
UnemployedWorkers.org

17. What changes during a
recession?
UnemployedWorkers.org

18. What changes during a recession?
• When the unemployment rate goes above 6% in
your state, benefits are extended.
• These extended benefits are based on the
unemployment rate in your state and on other
factors.
• The unemployment programs differ from state
to state in meaningful ways.
• To fund extended benefits, Congress must pass
appropriate bills.
UnemployedWorkers.org

19. What changes during a recession?
• UI is the most effective economic stimulus
• People spend it right away – don’t pocket as
savings
• A federal dollar spent on Unemployment
benefits repeats as $x throughout the
economy. (CBO and Zandi multipliers/??)
UnemployedWorkers.org

20. What changes during a recession?
• EUC Need a table or graphic – the exact content
of this.
• Four tiers, -- tiers 1 and 2 for all states, tiers
3 and 4 for states with higher unemployment
UnemployedWorkers.org

21. What do the unemployed
want or need?
UnemployedWorkers.org

22. What do the unemployed want or need?
• A new job
• Help accessing and keeping benefits
• Information about the social safety net
• Paid training resources
• Participation in organizing efforts
• Help addressing social and emotional issues
UnemployedWorkers.org

23. Role of
National Employment Law Project
(NELP)
UnemployedWorkers.org

24. Role of National Employment Law Project (NELP)
• The premiere policy organization that
addresses unemployment policy and
employment law generally.
• Leading the charge for extensions in
unemployment benefits during times of
high unemployment.
• Supporting changes in state unemployment
laws so that they protect more people
under more circumstances.
UnemployedWorkers.org

25. Role of
UnemployedWorkers.org
UnemployedWorkers.org

26. Role of UnemployedWorkers.org
• Our online community of jobless
workers looking for information on
accessing benefits
• Taking action for extended
unemployment benefits during the
recession
• Encouraging grassroots organizing
efforts by the unemployed, for the
unemployed
UnemployedWorkers.org

27. National Employment Law Project
&
UnemployedWorkers.org
Work to Extend UI Benefits
During the Recession
UnemployedWorkers.org

28. NELP & UnemployedWorkers.org
Work to Extend UI Benefits During the Recession
• Together, NELP and UW work to help America’s unemployed receive
benefits.
• How many receiving extended benefits now – more LT unemployed than
at any other time in last 5 decades. CAN we have numbers?
• How many will exhaust in months to come? Can we have numbers?
• Funding for extensions requires a fight in Congress
• some Members of Congress argue that unemployed are lazy
• need 60 votes in the Senate to pass
• unemployed need to make their voices heard
• What it means to take that money both away from the unemployed
and their families, but also from their communities
• Could lead to more job losses, foreclosures, etc. NUMBERS? Quotes?
UnemployedWorkers.org

29. Join Us!
UnemployedWorkers.org

30. Join Us!
• We have launched our campaign
to pass an unemployment
extension bill. Add your voice
here. (link)
• Congress listens to the voices of
the unemployed. Learn more at
Our Voices. (link)
UnemployedWorkers.org

31. End
• Credits?
UnemployedWorkers.org