Unemployment Insurance Benefit Payments

UI Payment Integrity Information

On November 20, 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13520. The purpose of this order is to reduce improper payments by intensifying efforts to eliminate payment error, waste, fraud, and abuse in the major programs administered by the Federal Government, while continuing to ensure that Federal programs serve and provide access to their intended beneficiaries. The order adopts a comprehensive set of policies, including transparency and public scrutiny of significant payment errors throughout the Federal Government.

On this site:

  • Access summary improper payment data for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program that the Department of Labor reports to the Office of Management and Budget, as required by the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA);
  • Obtain information regarding the management initiatives that the Department of Labor has adopted to improve UI program integrity; and
  • Link to other resources related to payment integrity, including the Department of the Treasury Web page, which reports information about improper payments for all high-priority Federal programs.


*** Please Note: UI improper payment data displayed on these web pages are derived from the Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) program. BAM is a quality control statistical survey used to identify errors and support corrective action in the state unemployment insurance (UI) system.

Approximately 24,000 cases are drawn from states annually, with sample sizes ranging from 360 cases per year in the 10 states with the smallest UI workloads to 480 cases in the remainder of the states.



Table - Unemployment Insurance Improper Payment Rates Summary By IPIA Reporting Year

Chart - Unemployment Insurance Improper Payment Rates (Current Reporting Period: July 2011 - June 2012)

Bar Graph - Causes of UI Overpayments

Chart - Leading Causes of UI Overpayments ( 2004-2012)

Department of Labor (DOL) Strategic Plan - Reducing Unemployment Insurance (UI) Improper Payments

State Improper Payment Data and Integrity Initiatives

UI Improper Payment Definitions

Additional Resources

Data Definitions


Benefit Accuracy Measurement - The complete CY 2011 Analytical Report can be found at: http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/bam/2011/bam-cy2011.pdf.

U. S. Department of Labor - OIG -- Hotline - Contact information to report fraud, waste, and abuse is provided at: http://www.oig.dol.gov/hotlinemain.htm.

Unemployment Insurance High Dollar Report - Summary of the number of UI overpayments greater than $5,000 by state.

U. S. Department of the Treasury PaymentAccuracy.gov Web Page - Information on improper payments for the Unemployment Insurance program and programs in other Federal agencies is available at: http://www.paymentaccuracy.gov.

UI Claimant and Employer Message Toolkit: http://ui.workforce3one.org/resources/files/ui-claimant-messaging-toolkit (UI Community of Practice Member Login Required).