(Written collaboratively by Vicky Lovell, PhD, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and Maurice Emsellem, Esq., National Employment Law Project) The Florida unemployment insurance (UI) system is not meeting its basic goal of providing a modest measure of income support to temporarily unemployed workers. This is due in significant part to the UI system’s
failure to keep pace with fundamental changes in the labor market, including the growth of low-wage and part-time work and the vastly expanding role of women in the labor market. This situation exists despite the significant reserves in Florida’s UI trust fund, even during the current economic downturn, and record-level UI tax cuts.