Unemployment Insurance Task Force Final Report

Unemployment Insurance (UI) is a critical part of America’s social insurance fabric—and an essential part of the nation’s economic toolkit​. In addition to providing countercyclical support during economic downturns, it helps people who have lost work through no fault of their own to maintain attachment to the workforce, prevent wage erosion, and help them pay bills, when forces out of their control limit their income.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed major cracks in America’s UI system, including massive technology failures, a core administrative structure ill-equipped to pay benefits on time and to the right people, and a base set of laws and assumptions that varied widely in benefit amount, duration, and access.

The National Academy of Social Insurance’s UI Task Force, first convened in December 2020, has spent the past several years looking at lessons learned from the pandemic; solutions proposed over the past few decades; and the vast knowledge base and range of its diverse members’ views. In July 2024, the Task Force—comprised of 24 leading experts from across the political spectrum—released its final report, to help policymakers, the media, and the public understand what policy levers exist, how they work, and what the trade-offs are for each one.

Members of the Academy’s Unemployment Insurance Task Force:

Michele Evermore, The Century Foundation and Rutgers University – Principal Investigator

Ben Gitis – Co-Chair

Julia Simon-Mishel, Philadelphia Legal Assistance – Co-Chair

Till von Wachter, California Policy Lab, University of California, Los Angeles – Co-Chair

David Balducchi, U.S. Department of Labor (retired)

Judy Chesser, U.S. Social Security Administration (retired)

Calvin Colbert, Challenger, Gray & Christmas

Matthew Darling, MEF Associates

Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project

Brendan Duke, Center for American Progress

Althea Erickson, Working Matters

Mary Gable, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees

Heidi Hartmann, American University

Douglas Holmes, National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation and Workers’ Compensation

Ray Khalfani, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

Christopher O’Leary, Upjohn Institute

John Pallasch, One Workforce Solutions

Amy Perez, Stanford University RegLab

Will Raderman, Niskanen Center

Lily Roberts, Center for American Progress

Amy Simon, Simon Advisory

Ralph Smith, Congressional Budget Office (retired)

Amy Traub, National Employment Law Project

James Van Erden, National Association of State Workforce Agencies

Matt Weidinger, American Enterprise Institute