States Will Find Their Own Solutions

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the entire comment in PDF format.

This paper is a response to New Safety Net Paper 6, "Weathering Job Loss: Unemployment Insurance" by Margaret Simms.

The old and well-accepted axiom “You can’t be all things to all people” seems an appropriate response to the collection of government assistance proposals advanced in Margaret C. Simms’s “Weathering Job Loss: Unemployment Insurance.”

Arguably, a case can be made for the expansion of the employer-funded federal unemployment insurance (UI) program to address some of the issues advanced in the essay, but these remedies are best left to the states. The fact that states can be responsive to the needs of their residents is evident in their state-administered public assistance programs.

For example, the essay states that in this post–welfare reform era, “the unemployment compensation system has not been updated to fully reflect the reality that most low-income adults with children are committed to the labor force but are likely to have recurrent periods of unemployment through no fault of their own.” However, many states have chosen to take advantage of the authority and flexibility provided by the federally funded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant to craft support programs for low-income families, similar to those being discussed in Simms’s essay. For example, under TANF a state may create a separate program for families with children under the age of 18, apart from the “welfare program,” to address those with unique eligibility requirements that Simms proposes to serve. Other federal programs also meet the needs of the unemployed without the necessity of a sweeping national UI initiative.

(End of excerpt. The entire comment is available in PDF format.)

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

Usage, posting and reprint of materials on the UI web site:

Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site in PDF format. This information may be used and copies made for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required.

Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned or controlled by the Urban Institute. Posting UI research papers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact paffairs@urban.org.

If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.