A Renewed Urgency to Strengthen Unemployment Insurance’s Automatic Triggers

The pandemic and recession in 2008 have renewed urgency around strengthening automatic triggers in the unemployment insurance (UI) system that are better attuned to local labor market conditions and that provide adequate buffers against prolonged downturns. Triggers turn on and off based on state unemployment measures, but policymakers, advocates, and researchers have raised concerns for years that those built-in triggers are insufficiently responsive. This article explores how the current set of UI automatic triggers work, their limitations, and policy proposals to strengthen them.