Mark Glickman
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Abstract
The federal–state unemployment insurance (UI) program provides temporary assistance to unemployed workers by replacing a portion of lost wages. States maintain reserves, funded through employer taxes, in trust funds, out of which they pay UI benefits. However, the severity and length of the recent recession, and the slow pace of recovery, have placed a heavy demand on state UI trust funds, and the large majority of states have needed loans from the federal government to continue to pay benefits. Continued high unemployment has put the UI program in historically poor financial condition.