Unemployment Insurance Claim Status Tool

The Office of Innovation, in partnership with the NJ State Department of Labor, built and launched a new tool that empowers residents to check the status of their Unemployment Insurance application and manage their own application without having to speak with a call center agent. This ongoing work is part of the Resident Experience Initiative.

Challenge

Many residents were anxious to know the status of their Unemployment Insurance application, but learning more required calling the Department of Labor’s hotline and speaking with an agent, which added to call center wait times. An earlier version of the claim status tool was available, however it was not engineered to handle high traffic so it was unavailable at critical times during the pandemic, leading to longer wait times as more residents called to check on the status of their application.

Innovation In Action

Based on conversations with residents and frontline staff, OOI and the Department of Labor saw an opportunity to make a high-impact improvement by quickly launching an updated self-service claim status tool and then continually adding new features based on feedback. Rather than spending months or years to build a more complex tool, OOI’s resident-centered, agile development approach provided immediate value to residents. To inform future developments, OOI created a feedback widget on the Claim Status Tool and has been using generative AI to analyze the many comments it receives to create reports that identify and prioritize emerging issues to address in future updates, enabling faster releases and greater responsiveness to residents’ needs.

Impact + Metrics

Applicants no longer need to speak with a call center agent to check the status of their application, reducing call center wait times and freeing agents to address other questions.
With the tool, residents can check the status of their claim after they submit an application, see if there are steps needed to advance their claim, and then take action with new self-service features
As of July 2024, the improved claim status tool has been used more than 2 million times with more than 75% of users resolving issues on their own to advance their unemployment benefits application.
Using the feedback widget, OOI and DOL are quickly responding to emerging needs. Shortly after the Claim Status Tool’s launch in March 2023, in response to user comments, a new update was released to make 1099 forms from current and previous years available in time for the April tax deadline.
With help from the feedback widget, the Claims Status Tool is being made even more effective. When the tool was initially introduced in early 2023, only 25% of surveyed residents were able to find what they needed, but as of August 2024, 60% of those surveyed are now able to find what they need.

Status

OOI continues to work with the Department of Labor to improve the Claim Status tool and release additional features.

Partners

NJ State Department of Labor

Last updated on 9/26/24