Assist Workers Who Have Lost Their Jobs

• The Unemployment Insurance (UI) program was established as a federal-state partnership in 1935. At that time, most of the labor force consisted of men who were employed full-time in the manufacturing or trade sectors. Since then, the nature of both work and unemployment has changed in fundamental ways. In recent decades there have been increases in the share of low-wage jobs, the incidence of temporary and contingent work, the number of women in the workforce and the number of two-earner families, and the average duration of unemployment. Since the mid-1980s, receipt of UI has shown modest increase, but still remains below the near 50 percent rate of the 1950s. Further, unemployed low-wage and part-time workers are significantly less likely to obtain UI benefits than their higher-wage and full-time counterparts.
  
  Full report of GAO-07-1147 (PDF)

• Most of the funds used to pay UI benefits come from the states, which levy a payroll tax on employers to finance regular UI benefits and one-half of extended benefits. Those firms with many unemployed workers receiving UI benefits will generally pay a higher UI tax rate than firms with few workers receiving unemployment insurance. States' tax rate schedules also vary according to some measure of a state's trust fund balance, with the highest tax schedules generally applying when state fund balances will be drawn down in times of high unemployment, and replenished in times of low unemployment.
  
  Highlights of GAO-06-769 (PDF)

• The Job Corps program has been operating at or near capacity for male residential students, but under capacity for female residential students in recent years. For example, about one-half of the centers that enrolled female residential students in program year 2007 were below 80 percent of their planned enrollment for that group. Key factors that affect Job Corps's ability to recruit and retain residential students, particularly female residential students include the availability of career training options, complete and accurate preenrollment information, and quality of center life. While Labor has gradually made more training opportunities available that are likely to appeal to female students, these are typically at a center's request and not part of an overall strategy. In addition, Labor has taken some steps to ensure that students receive detailed preenrollment information, but has not yet expanded these efforts nationally.
  
  Highlights of GAO-09-470 (PDF)

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

• The services offered to those referred under the Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services initiative are a diminished version of what Labor originally envisioned. In addition, the effectiveness of the worker profiling program has not been assessed since the mid 1990s. Labor should encourage states to adhere to Labor's vision for in-depth reemployment services, reevaluate its worker-profiling data collection, and evaluate the impact of the program, to ensure that the benefits are commensurate with the resources invested.
  
  Highlights of GAO-07-680 (PDF)
• The Secretary of Labor should work with states to develop a plan for considering the feasibility of requiring states to collect more comprehensive information on all UI claimants' use of reemployment services and the outcomes achieved by claimants, including the length of time claimants receive UI before they are reemployed.
  
  Highlights of GAO-05-413 (PDF)
• To improve the recruitment and retention of residential students in the Job Corps program, Labor should review the availability and selection of career training offerings at centers and assess whether centers need to offer more and better career training options that are attractive to women and could lead to careers that will enable women to become self-sufficient; expand current efforts to ensure that outreach and admissions contractors across all six regions consistently provide potential students with complete and accurate information on all aspects of Job Corps; and explore the feasibility or cost-effectiveness of developing video or online virtual tours for all centers.
  
  Highlights of GAO-09-470 (PDF)

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Job Corps

Unemployment Insurance

Unemployment Insurance

Unemployment Insurance

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