Statewide Outcome(s):
Unemployment Insurance supports the following statewide outcome(s).
Strong and stable families and communities.
Context:
The Unemployment Insurance program provides a temporary, partial wage replacement to workers unemployed due to no fault of their own. The benefits paid to these workers ensure that they are able to support themselves and their families while they look for their next job. The payment of benefits also provides stability to local economies by helping to maintain spending during prolonged economic downturns. Benefit payments also support dislocated workers while they obtain training so they may re-enter the labor market, and ensure that skilled workers do not leave an area in search of other work during periods of short-term unemployment.
The payment of unemployment insurance benefits is funded by a special tax on Minnesota employers. The tax rate is based on an employer’s “experience rating” – the ratio of benefits paid to their former workers compared to the employer’s payroll. Administrative funding is provided through a federally administered payroll tax.
Strategies:
Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance program uses advanced technological and management approaches to ensure the prompt payment of benefits to eligible unemployed workers; to reduce as much as possible the administrative burdens on employers who pay the tax and to use valuable human resources as cost-effectively as possible. The Unemployment Insurance Program collaborates with WorkForce Center partners to ensure workers obtain the assistance needed to speedily return to employment that makes the best possible use of the worker’s skills and abilities.
Results:
The Unemployment Insurance program continuously monitors and manages hundreds of performance metrics to ensure that federally-mandated and departmental performance measures are being met. As a result, Minnesota regularly out-performs all but a few states according in overall program performance. Of all the measures, the strongest indicators of a well-run and healthy program are those that reflect prompt payment of benefits, timely determinations of eligibility and timely issuance of appeal decisions.
|
Performance Measures |
Previous |
Current |
Trend |
|
Timely First Payment of Benefits (Federal goal: 87% in 14 days) |
92.0% |
92.0% |
Stable |
|
Timely Eligibility Determinations (Federal goal: 80% in 21 days) |
85.5% |
85.4% |
Stable |
|
Timely Appeal Decisions (Federal goal: 60% in 30 days) |
90.7% |
90.0% |
Stable |
Performance Measures Notes:
1. Performance measures compare calendar year 2011 to the first six months of calendar year 2012.