Unemployment Insurance Reform

Unemployment Insurance (UI) was created in 1935 with the male "breadwinner" in mind and does not reflect several decades of changes in the workforce. Women and single family-heads are more likely to be in the workforce today. As a result, the definition of "worker," which determines in large part who is eligible for UI, needs to change to address the needs and circumstances of these workers. Those needs include finding and maintaining reliable childcare, challenges with transportation, and balancing work demands with family responsibilities. Many workers fail to qualify for UI because they have only recently entered the laborforce, because they work part-time, or because their family responsibilities require them to work second- or third-shift.

IWF's advocacy to reform UI began with our concern for the needs of women who left welfare. Historically, women workers who didn't qualify for UI benefits relied on welfare as a "poor woman's unemployment insurance." Many women worked in seasonal or temporary jobs, but relied on AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) to provide household income when work was scarce or out of season. Because of the new limits in 1997 on welfare and access to benefits, women workers are unable to rely on welfare for emergency income support.

UI policy is determined at the state level. The state UI Advisory Council, made up of representatives of business and labor groups, negotiates a package of changes. Typically, the legislature passes that package without change. This policymaking process is intended to protect workers, and the UI system in general, from dramatic changes that might result from changes in the political environment. The UI Advisory Council meets every two years to negotiate.

In 1999, IWF convened a statewide UI coalition to advocate for reforms. Key reforms adopted in 1999 included:

• Use of an Alternative Base Period to determine eligibility.
• Identified compelling personal circumstances as a good cause reason for leaving employment.
• Commissioned a part-time worker study group to make recommendations for making part-time workers eligible for UI.

Though part-time workers pay into the UI system like full-time workers, under Wisconsin law they are not eligible to receive UI benefits. Workers attempting to balance work and family obligations may need part-time hours to accommodate child-care schedules or the needs of ill or infirm family members. The part-time worker study group met throughout 2001, but failed to develop a consensus on recommendations. In response to the work of the study group, the UI Advisory Council made a small change to the eligibility provision that requires workers to be "able and available for full-time, first-shift work." The previous standard for full-time work was being able and available for 35 hours a week; the 2001 UI package enabled workers able and available for only 32 hours a week to be considered eligible for UI.

IWF continues to advocate for improvements to the UI system to align it with the needs of the new, emerging workforce.