UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
QUARTERLY RESEARCH STATUS REPORT
APRIL - JUNE 1995
(July 1995)
| I. UI Research and Development Projects | 3 |
| A. Research and Development Projects | 3 |
| Unemployment Insurance Performance Measurement | 3 |
| Unemployment Insurance Performance Measurement Review Project | 3 |
| Employee Leasing Study | 5 |
| Study of An Increase in the Unemployment Insurance Federal Taxable Wage Base | 6 |
| Unemployment Insurance Service Policy Issues Book | 7 |
| UI Survival Analysis Rate and Benefit Model | 8 |
| B. Technical Assistance Projects | 9 |
| Risk Analysis Project | 9 |
| Evaluation of Voice Response Units in the Unemployment Insurance Service | 10 |
| II. UI Demonstration Projects | 11 |
| Maryland Work Search Demonstration | 11 |
| New Jersey Follow-up Study II | 12 |
| UI Self-Employment Demonstration Evaluation | 13 |
| Job Search Assistance Demonstration Evaluation | 14 |
| III. DOL Projects Related to UI | 15 |
| Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act Study | 15 |
| Evaluation of Worker Profiling Systems | 16 |
| Evaluation of Short-Time Compensation Programs | 17 |
| Analysis of Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claims - Revised Base Period (RBP) in the UI Program | 18 |
| The Alternative Base Period in Unemployment Insurance: Final Report | 19 |
UI RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Study Title: Unemployment Insurance Service (UIS) Performance Measurement Review (PMR) Project
Purpose: To examine, evaluate and improve the mechanisms for assessing State Employment Security Agencies (SESA) performance in administering the UI program thereby promoting continuous improvement in the delivery of prompt and quality services to the program's primary customers - claimants and employers. This project is also designed to ensure that the Secretary of Labor's statutory responsibilities for the administration and oversight of the UI programs are being carried out effectively.
PMR is a multi-year project consisting of three phases. Phase I, the design stage, included the development of alternative performance measures. Phase II, the current phase, is a field test of measures to determine their operational feasibility. Phase III will include phased implementation.
Beginning Date: September 30, 1988
Ending Date: Late 1995 - begin Nationwide implementation
Contractor: Phase III - Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
UI Monitor: William N. Coyne
Status: Some revisions in the measures have been made as a result of the field test findings and in response to the comments received on the UIPL and FRN which were published in February with the contractor's report as an attachment. A UIPL responding to comments is being prepared for release.
We have reviewed the contractor's design for data validation and are redesigning the UI reporting system to incorporate PMR elements. All elements to be included in the validation process, which will replace current Workload Validation as the new measures are implemented beginning late this year, are being identified and defined.
The contractor has begun to visit States to explain the new reporting requirements and data validation processes.
Funding Source: National Activities (Phase III)
Study Title: Employee Leasing Study
Purpose: The overall goal of this project is to determine the impacts of employee leasing on UI claimants and on the UI system. Specific objectives include whether employee leasing has led to experience rating manipulation, unpaid employer taxes and reduced UI grants as a result of fewer employers.
Beginning Date: June l, 1993
Ending Date: June 30, 1996
Contractor: KRA Corporation
Project Monitor: Rett Hensley
Status: Discussions with UI and Worker's Compensation staff in Florida, Oklahoma and Texas have< taken place. Data is being collected from these States for analysis.
Funding Source: Pilots and Demonstrations
Study Title: Study of An Increase in the Unemployment Insurance Federal Taxable Wage Base
Purpose: This study was undertaken in order to develop a better understanding of employer response to changes in the Federal taxable wage base and its impact on employment. It can be used by policy makers at the State and Federal level in the formulation of policy towards increasing the Federal taxable wage base.
Beginning Date: June 30, 1992
Ending Date: September 1, 1994
Contractor: KRA Corporation
UI Project Monitor: Robert Pavosevich
This study has been completed and published as an UI Occasional Paper, 95-1.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
Study Title: Unemoloyment Insurance Policy Issues Book
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to develop an Unemployment Insurance (UI) book on current policy issues. This book will be the second volume in a two-volume set complementing a volume being published by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Beginning Date: March 1, 1994
Ending Date: December 30, 1996
Contractor: The Upjohn Institute
Project Monitor: Steve Wandner
Status: Fourteen out of fifteen chapters of the book were completed in draft. They were presented and discussed at a symposium on June 15-17, 1995 in Kalamazoo, MI. The authors are now revising their chapters, using comments from reviewers. This book will be published by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in early 1996.
Funding Source: Pilots and Demonstrations
Study Title: UI Survival Analysis Rate and Benefit Model
Purpose: This study has two main objectives. One is to develop a statistically valid model of benefits. The initial phase of this project will consist of building a PC-based model which can be run in the latest available version of LOTUS 1-2-3 (or similar spreadsheet software as agreed upon by UIS and the contractor) and maintained by UIS actuarial staff.
Beginning Date: September 30, 1994
Ending Date: September 30, 1997
Contractor: Battelle Memorial Institute
UI Project Monitor: Tom Stengle
Status: A nationally representative sample of fifteen randomly chosen States have been selected for this project. An OMB clearance package has been submitted in preparation for obtaining a random sample of approximately ten-thousand initial claimants from each selected State. The fifteen selected States have been provided with the necessary data requirements and specifications. The contractor is awaiting notifications of State participation.
Funding Source: Unemployment Insurance Research and Training (UI R&T)
Study Title: Risk Analysis Pro~ect
Purpose: To assist SESAs in identifying and reducing risks to the UI program. Specific objectives include: (1) identifying specific weaknesses and future areas of vulnerability; (2) evaluating risk analysis policies and guidelines; (3) evaluating automated analytical risk analysis products; and (4) providing recommendations, approaches, training and analytical tools to assist SESAs in assessing vulnerabilities.
Beginning Date: October 1, 1994
Ending Date: September 30, 1998
Contractor: California Employment Development Department
Project Officer: Harry Minor
Status: The California EDD Risk Analysis project staff have conducted the following activities to date:
Formed an Advisory Work Group (AWG) responsible for reviewing and commenting on projects deliverables and assisting in formulating the project's scope, objectives, methodology, and timelines. (The AWG is comprised of 6 State staff from Alabama, California, Idaho, New Jersey, Oregon, and Texas - and two federal staff).
Convened two meetings of the AWG for the purposes of reviewing and commenting on project deliverables, study methodology, and setting.
Categorized and determined risk analysis training needs of SESAs based on input from all SESAs.
Completed the process of evaluating at least three risk analysis software packages.
Developed the methodology and questionnaire to be used when visiting selected SESAs for the on-site studies.
On-site studies will be performed from May 11, 1995 through September 30, 1995.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
Study Title: Evaluation of Voice Response Units in the Unemployment Insurance System
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to provide summary information on the extent to which voice response units are used by State Employment Security Agencies to handle various functions associated with claims processing. The study will also provide detailed analyses of voice response units implemented in two to four States; the analyses will include reviews of system design, implementation and operational costs, and functional characteristics.
Beginning Date: March 1995
Ending Date: June 1996
Contractor: PRAMM Consulting Group, Inc.
UI Project Monitor: Douglas Scott
Status: Project staff currently conducting detailed analysis in four States.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
Study Title: Maryland Work Search Demonstration
Purpose: This demonstration project is an extension of other DOL research projects that have examined the effects of UI and ES services to facilitate claimants' return to work. This demonstration will determine whether or not the stringency of work search requirements accelerates claimant reemployment and reduces UI benefits paid, without reducing the wage rate obtained by the claimant. The results from this demonstration will provide valuable information to DOL and all States on the desired effect of work search requirements, and will identify potential policy changes that can be made to make work search requirements more effective.
Beginning Date: September 27, 1991
Ending Date: March 1997
Contractor: Maryland Department of Economic and Employment Deployment (DEED), with Abt Associates
UI Project Monitor: Wayne Gordon
Status: A small number of project participants have not completed their benefit years, and several are actively claiming benefits. Monitoring of these participants will continue until the last participants benefit year expires (December 1995). Collection of State administrative data analysis has begun.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
New Jersey Follow-Up Study II
Purpose: To conduct a second follow-up study of the long-term earnings and UI program impacts on selected participants in the New Jersey Reemployment Demonstration Project (NJUIRDP). Treatment services were: (1) Job Search Assistance (JSA); (2) JSA with training or relocation allowance; and (3) JSA combined with a reemployment bonus. Results from the original NJUIRDP showed that JSA alone was the most effective treatment service. A follow-up study was completed in 1990 and indicated that the treatment service impacts need to be measured over a seven-year period and during different economic conditions. Results should be very useful in analyzing the long-term impacts of the treatment services.
Beginning Date: June 30, 1992
Ending Date: December 30, 1994
Contractor: New Jersey Department of Labor with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
UI Project Monitor: Ronald Wilus
Status: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. has completed the report. The final evaluation report, together with a separate summary of the results, and implications of the original, and follow-up New Jersey studies are available as a UI Occasional Paper.
Funding Source: Unemployment Insurance Research and Training (UI R&T)
Study Title: UI Self-Emoloyment Demonstration Evaluation
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to determine the viability of self-employment as a reemployment option for unemployed workers. This contract provides an evaluation of two experimental UI Self-Employment Demonstration Projects that were conducted in the States of Washington and Massachusetts. This will provide a process analysis, impact analysis, and benefit-cost analysis of these projects.
Beginning Date: June 16, 1988
Ending Date: January 31, 1995
Contractor: Abt Associates Inc.
UI Project Monitor: Jon C. Messenger
Status: The contractor completed the final evaluation report on the Washington and Massachusetts Self-Employment Demonstration Projects. This report was published as a UI Occasional Paper in June 1995 and the results were presented June 13, 1995 at an international conference on self-employment for unemployed workers. The results showed that self-employment is a viable cost-effective option for promoting the reemployment of these UI recipients nterested in this option.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
Study Title: Job Search Assistance Demonstration Evaluation
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to determine the feasibility of implementing different types of job search assistance programs. The Job Search Assistance (JSA) Demonstration represents an experimental research effort mandated by the Congress (P.L. 102-164) to build on the results of the New Jersey UI Demonstration Project. The New Jersey Demonstration showed that one package of intensive job search assistance services can speed dislocated UI claimants' return to productive employment. The JSA Demonstration expands on this knowledge base by testing alternative service approaches to see which ones have the greatest impacts and are most cost-effective. The demonstration project is being conducted in Florida, and the District of Columbia.
Beginning Date: October 1, 1993
Ending Date: May 31, 1998
Contractor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Project Monitor: Wayne Gordon
Status: The research design for the demonstration has been completed, and the demonstration is operational in Florida and the District of Columbia. A third State, Wisconsin, withdrew from the project prior to implementation. In November 1994, project operations began in Florida with the enrollment of project participants. The Florida demonstration is currently operating in ten local sites. Enrollment of project participants in the District of Columbia began in February 1995 in one centralized site.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
Study Title: Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act Study
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 1991 on the labor market experience of the unemployment insurance claimants, on the economy, and UI trust funds, and to explore policy options for extending benefits during periods of future high unemployment.
Beginning Date: September 30, 1994
Ending Date: March 31, 1997
Contractor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
UI Project Monitor: Rob Pavosevich
Status: The contractor has completed a literary review of related work. Work on the survey design, which will be used to sample EUC claimants, is currently under way.
Funding Source: Pilots and Demonstrations
Study Title: Evaluation of Worker Profiling Systems
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to provide research assistance to DOL in conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the operations and effectiveness of State Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Systems. The plan is to conduct an evaluation of the Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Initiative which will provide:
information on the operation and effectiveness of State Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Systems that have been developed in accordance with Public Law (PL) 103-152; and
an assessment of State operations that pertain to the development and effectiveness of more established State Systems.
Beginning Date: July 1, 1994
Ending Date: June 30, 1998
Contractor: Social Policy Research Associates
UI Project Monitor: Jon C. Messenger
Status: The contractor completed a final version of the evaluation design report in February 1994, and received OMB approval for a customer survey in May. The contractor also completed on-site data collection visits to Maryland (the test State) and to five Prototype States (Florida, Kentucky, Oregon, Delaware, and New Jersey). An interim report on the WPRS evaluation will be completed by the end of September, covering Maryland and the five Prototype States.
Funding Source: UI National Activities
Study Title: Evaluation of Short-Time Compensation Programs
Purpose: The objectives for this study include determining the impact of Short Time Compensation (STC) on state UI trust funds, examining the extent to which STC preserves jobs by deterring layoffs, and investigating the ways in which the program is administered and how that administration might be improved. An analyses of five States that have STC legislation incorporated in their State UI laws, will enable the Secretary of Labor to provide a required report to Congress on the implementation of Section 401 of the Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1992.
Beginning Date: June 30, 1994
Ending Date: June 30, 1996
Contractor: Berkeley Planning Associates and Mathematica Policy Research
UI Project : Roz Thomas
Status: Of the five selected States, Kansas' data collection is complete. The contractor continues to gather second-round data from the remaining States. The sample States and Employers Survey is awaiting OMB clearance.
Funding Source: Pilots and Demonstrations
Study Title: Analysis of Unemnloyment Insurance (UI) Claims -- Revised Base Period (RBP) in the UI Program
Purpose: This analysis will add to the information developed in the study entitled "The Alternative Base Period in Unemployment Insurance: Final Report." Information about the longer term impact of an Alternative Base Period (ABP) on State trust funds, employer taxes, claims levels, and the reasons for switching to an ABP will be provided through the efforts of this study. It will also attempt to examine operational issues including the implementation and ongoing costs associated with an ABP and suggest cost effective approaches to implementing and maintaining an ABP. A better understanding of administrative costs for an ABP will be developed.
Beginning Date: July 1995
Ending Date: July 1997
Contractor: Planmatics
Project Monitor: Ronald Wilus
Status: Contract was finalized June 1995.
Funding Source: Pilots and Demonstrations
Study Title: The Alternative Base Period in Unemployment Insurance: Final Report
Purpose: This project provided the initial research for DOL in the area of alternative base periods (ABP). Six States (Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) presently use an ABP to determine a claimant's monetary eligibility. The study presents the differences and similarities among the ABP programs of the six States, analyzes demographic characteristics of individuals benefiting from the ABP and in which industries they worked, provides information on the benefit cost of the programs, and indicates some administrative considerations of implementing and ABP.
Beginning Date: August 1994
Ending Date: January 1995
Contractor: Urban Institute
UI Project Monitor: Ronald Wilus
Status: The final report is available as Unemployment Insurance Occasional Paper 95-3.
Funding Source: ETA Research