Sponsoring Agency: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration
Project Officer: Anissa Holm
Performance Period: March 2000 – December 2002
Project Summary:
TThe Department of Labor (DOL) funded this study to explore the relationship between non-monetary eligibility policies and practices and program outcomes, such as recipiency and benefit duration. This study provided an examination of the factors that affected program outcomes in eight states: four “high recipiency” states (Delaware, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington) and four “low recipiency” ones (Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah). The final report explored policies and practices specific to separations, non-separations, and appeals of separation and non-separation decisions using information collected from documents supplied by the states, as well as from interviews conducted during site visits to each of the eight states. Prior research had indicated that much of the state-level variation in UI recipiency was due to policies, processes, and practices that were not easily captured by administrative data. Thus, many of the questions explored during the site visits focused on how UI programs operate at the ground level and how variation between the programs helped explain variation in outcomes across states. The final report for this study was published as an ETA Occasional Paper (2003-01). Report: M. Fishman, M, Farrell, K. Gardiner, B. Barnow, J. Trutko, Unemployment Insurance Non-Monetary Policies and Practices: How Do They Affect Program Participation: A Study of 8 States, prepared by The Lewin Group, prepared for the Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor, July 2003 (available at: