Unemployment Insurance Overpayments: Evidence and Implications

This paper presents the principal findings of the most comprehensive study yet undertaken of payment errors in the unemployment insurance (UI) program. Among the five states studied-Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Washington-the percentage of benefit weeks with payment errors ranged in 1981-82 from 12 percent to 52 percent, with an average of 26 percent. In each state, overpayments greatly exceeded underpayments, with inadequate job search efforts the primary cause of the overpayments found. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for previous research and for UI program administration.