NC’s unemployment insurance fails standards that make the program effective

Unemployment insurance changes made in 2013 continue to play out poorly in communities across the state. Jobless workers have lost access to a system designed to provide temporary support while they seek new jobs, and communities facing significant job loss and persistently high unemployment have lost a stabilizing resource in their local economies.

A review of performance metrics collected by the U.S. Department of Labor for the Second Quarter of 20161 shows changes made to the state unemployment system in 2013 have led to a stark new reality. North Carolina’s unemployment insurance now reaches too few jobless workers for too short a time period and provides too little in payments to stabilize their spending in the economy.