1. Purpose. To announce revisions to the FY 2002 UI GPRA goals.
2. Background. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 seeks to shift the focus of government decision-making and accountability away from a preoccupation with the activities that are undertaken to a focus on the results of those activities, such as real gains in employability, responsiveness, or program quality. Under the Act, federal departments and their agencies are to develop multiyear strategic plans, annual performance plans, and annual performance reports. Performance against annual plans is tracked for all programs for which the Department is responsible.
3. FY 2002 GPRA Goals. In December 2001, ETA revised the GPRA goals for UI contained in both the Department of Labor's and Employment and Training Administration's Annual Performance Plans for FY 2002. ETA redefined its goals to achieve a simple yet balanced expression of GPRA's intent to reflect UI's benefit payment, tax, and reemployment responsibilities. For FY 2002 and beyond, ETA has refined its UI goals to four, each with one indicator. It has also changed the focus from the number of states attaining a criterion to aggregate performance, to better measure system-wide service to customers. Data for two of the indicators, timeliness of intrastate first payments and new status determinations, are attached. They will also be available on the OWS web site. ETA is developing measures for the remaining two goals, improving benefit accuracy and facilitating reemployment of UI claimants. Those indicators will be the subject of subsequent advisories.
The GPRA goals for the UI program are included in both the Department of Labor and the Employment and Training Administration Annual Performance Plans. The ETA Annual Performance Plan can be found under "About ETA" at www.doleta.gov/sitemap.asp. ETA has
established four goals to assess UI performance.
Measures for two goals relate to UI PERFORMS Tier I measures as follows:
Make Timely and Accurate Benefit Payments to Unemployed Workers
- Payment Timeliness: 91% of all intrastate first payments will be made within 14/21 days. This is the "Secretary's Standard" measure, based on full weeks of intrastate unemployment in the state program. It excludes Interstate, UCFE, UCX, partial and part-total weeks, and Workshare.
Establish Unemployment Insurance Tax Accounts Promptly
- Status determinations: 80% of new employer status determinations will be made within 90 days of the end of the first quarter the employer becomes liable for the tax.
The 2002 targets were set based on performance in FY 2001, where 90.3% of all first payments were made within 14 to 21 days and 79.1% of new tax status determinations were made within 90 days.
Measures for two goals will be developed in FY 2002:
Facilitate the Reemployment of Claimants
- During FY 2002, ETA will establish a baseline to increase the entered employment rate of claimants.
Improve Payment Accuracy for Unemployed Workers
- In FY 2002, establish a baseline to improve UI payment accuracy nationwide.
There are no 2002 performance targets for theses measures under development.
4. Tracking GPRA Performance. Presently, individual state and aggregate national GPRA performance is displayed by quarter and by the most recent 12 months in the Quarterly Management Report for the period ending September 2001 located under UI Performance Management at https://ows.doleta.gov. In the future, state and national GPRA performance will be displayed in a GPRA Tracking Report specifically listed under "UI Performance Management" at https://ows.doleta.gov. States' GPRA performance is also displayed in spreadsheet format at https://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/gpra.asp.
| RESCISSIONS | EXPIRATION DATE |
| None | February 28, 2003 |
5. Attaining GPRA Goals. Although two GPRA goals for UI - timeliness of first payments and employer status determinations - use UI PERFORMS Tier I measures, the GPRA goals are set at higher levels of performance than the UI PERFORMS criteria. The Tier I criteria are the
minimum acceptable levels of performance by each state, while the GPRA goals are national aggregate performance levels for which our national system can aim for excellence. Higher workloads and a temporary extended benefit program this year make reaching these GPRA goals more challenging and, as a result, success will be a greater achievement for our system.
State administrators are urged to review their respective agency's performance in each of the GPRA goals areas and to focus staff attention on improving performance - even if performance exceeds Tier I criteria or the GPRA goal levels. Of course, states where performance was below the Tier I levels last year must have corrective action plans in place. Because the goal levels are national aggregates, each state's performance, whether above or below the goal level, has an impact.
6. Action Required. State Workforce Agency Administrators are requested to:
a. Review the agency's performance in each of the GPRA goal areas.
b. Distribute this advisory to appropriate staff.
7. Inquiries. Questions should be directed to the appropriate Regional Office.
8. Attachment. Quarterly Tracking Information for GPRA Goals.