Uncovered: Unemployment Insurance Gaps and Reform Proposals in New York
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the weaknesses that plague modern-day unemployment insurance. From underfunding, lack of access, employer payment failures, and delays to errors in processing benefits, unemployment insurance suffers from an array of maladies. In New York State, several legislative proposals seek to address these problems. Please join the Center for Applied Research on Work in conversation with Unemployment Insurance experts to explore what the current legislative proposals cover. Discussions will include where the proposals need to address the full complement of needs the New York Unemployment Insurance system faces.
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Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the weaknesses that plague modern-day unemployment insurance (UI). In New York, the immediate closure of entire industries drove large swaths of the workforce to apply for UI. However, decades of structural changes to employment classification met with and contributed to the systemic underfunding of UI in New York State, leading to an underfunded system with benefit delays, errors, and faulty fraud detection systems. The result: large numbers of workers could not access UI when they needed it most. The pandemic laid bare significant challenges to access and solvency of the UI system.
There are several current legislative proposals aimed at addressing pieces of the problem. However, are the legislative proposals enough to address the deep-seated structural problems with New York’s unemployment insurance system? Please join ILR's Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW) for this in-depth conversation covering current draft legislation that tackles some of the problems of New York State's unemployment insurance (UI) system and how the proposals address the health, solvency, and access of New York's UI program.
