How Congress Can Fix Unemployment Insurance Webinar Recording

In this webinar held on March 18, 2024, workers, social insurance policy experts, and workers’ rights advocates shared insights and experiences and highlighted the solutions offered by new federal legislation: The UI Modernization and Recession Readiness Act. The bill will address many of the UI system’s deep inadequacies, making unemployment benefits a reliable bridge to a new job for millions of workers.

People who are out of work should be able to sustain themselves and their families while they look for a new job. But most unemployed workers never receive unemployment insurance (UI) and workers of color are disproportionately shut out of the system.

Without strong federal standards for unemployment benefits, workers struggle to get by and many see their benefits cut off before they find work. And while UI is among the most effective policies to speed recovery from an economic downturn, the system is flawed.

During the pandemic, Congress scrambled to create temporary emergency unemployment programs because the regular UI system was too weak to adequately support workers or the economy. Policymakers must permanently fix the system before the next recession.

Samantha Sanders of the Economic Policy Institute moderated the discussion which included:
Michele Evermore, The Century Foundation, Senior Fellow
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Visiting Fellow
Gabby Bolden-Shaw, Step Up Louisiana, Organizer
Shelby Meyenburg, AFSCME member, UI/ES worker in Washington State
Miguelina Dalton, Mon Valley Unemployed Committee member, LCSW, Lancaster, PA
Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project, President and CEO