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Unemployment

From Unemployment to Reemployment.

State unemployment insurance (UI) programs are meant to serve as a temporary safety net while individuals look for work—not as a permanent entitlement. Due to shortsighted pandemic policies that lingered long after jobs returned, many people remained on UI for as many as 20 months while getting paid more to stay home than find work.

Now, the United States is experiencing a critical worker shortage, even as businesses in every state are in a desperate search for employees to fill jobs.

Policymakers at the state and federal level have a role to play by implementing reforms that help move individuals from unemployment to reemployment. It is all about unleashing the power of work, allowing even more Americans to find fulfillment, dignity, and prosperity for themselves and their families.

Unemployment programs also must be reformed to weather future economic downturns. UI trust funds in many states have been depleted because of fraud and abuse that only worsened during the pandemic, largely due to the very policies that were sold to states as a way out of the crisis.

Safeguards should be put in place to:

  • Detect fraud before it happens;
  • Prevent the ineligible from drawing benefits; and
  • Preserve resources for the truly needy.

Our Unemployment Experts
Brian Sikma
Brian Sikma

Senior Fellow

Haley Holik
Haley Holik

Senior Fellow

Hayden Dublois
Hayden Dublois

Data and Analytics Director

Jonathan Bain
Jonathan Bain

Senior Research Fellow

Jonathan Ingram
Jonathan Ingram

Vice President of Policy and Research

Kristi Stahr

Senior Data Analyst

Scott Centorino
Scott Centorino

Deputy Policy Director

Trevor Carlsen
Trevor Carlsen

Senior Research Fellow

At FGA, we don’t just talk about changing policy—we make it happen.

By partnering with FGA through a gift, you can create more policy change that returns America to a country where entrepreneurship thrives, personal responsibility is rewarded, and paychecks replace welfare checks.