Unemployment Insurance IT Modernization Grant Projects: Phase 1 Summary Report

In May 2023, the Department of Labor outlined its strategy for UI modernization, which focuses on helping states adopt a continuous approach to modernization. In December 2023, pursuant to that strategy, the Department announced its new Open UI Initiative. The Initiative seeks to change how U.S. states and territories build and buy the technology that supports their unemployment insurance (“UI”) programs by establishing a common, modular framework and approach for UI system development, to increase the scalability and resilience of those systems, make them easier to maintain incrementally, encourage reuse of existing software, and integrate new solutions through standard interfaces and an API-first approach. The Initiative aims to create market-based incentives that drive innovation, and provide more choices for how states can invest in technology to meet the goals of the UI program.