U.S. Department of Labor Announces New Effort to Reduce Unemployment Insurance Improper Payments

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a series of new initiatives aimed at reducing improper payments in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program.

"Providing states with resources to recognize and combat improper Unemployment Insurance payments is a critical piece of our Federal-state partnership," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta. "I have contacted Governors across the nation and asked them to recommit to lowering the UI improper payment rate in their state. The Department stands ready to help states with high level of improper payments by providing targeted assistance where it's needed most."

The Department has also released a newly redesigned integrity webpage, "UI Payment Accuracy by State," that displays each state's UI improper payment rate. The webpage also contains information on each state's root causes of UI improper payments and provides links to report UI fraud in each state. The website provides greater visibility for the public and policymakers to find payment accuracy information for all states in one location. For more information, visit https://www.dol.gov/general/maps.

In addition, the Department has created two new awards to recognize state UI efforts. The first award - the "Program Integrity Excellence Award" - will recognize states that have demonstrated excellence with regard to minimizing their UI improper payment rates. The second award - the "Significantly Improved Program Integrity Award" - will recognize states that have significantly reduced their UI improper payment rates.

The recipients of the new awards will be announced at the annual National UI Directors' Conference in September 2019. The methodology for identifying the recipients of these new awards is published in Training and Employment Notice (TEN) No. 25-18.