To Reimagine Unemployment Insurance Services, Start Small.

Over the course of the pandemic, unemployment benefits have provided a critical lifeline for tens of millions of Americans who’ve found themselves out of a job for months. Unfortunately, failures in service delivery—like Florida’s $77 million broken unemployment website and 120-day wait times in Georgia—have prevented people from receiving much-needed aid. How should we invest in technical systems to lay the foundations for a more resilient safety net in the future? As we look to the future of unemployment insurance, panelists will discuss why it’s important to start small and share what they believe to be the most important components of a modular UI system.