Labor Dept. Awarded Internet Technology Grant

Sep. 26, 2002
No. 02-54

Grant will lay foundation for unemployment insurance program customer choice

Alaska has been selected to receive a $912,712 Unemployment Insurance (UI) Remote Systems (UIRS) Grant, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced today.

This is the seventh year the U.S. Department of Labor has offered these federal grants. Awards are based upon a competitive process to support state efforts to meet the goals of giving Unemployment Insurance program customers a choice of technologies in how to participate in the program. A total of $9 million is being awarded to various states' UI programs nationwide.

Alaska's grant comes as two awards, one for $413.419 in the Internet Employer Registration category and one for $499,293 in the Internet Employer Tax and Wage Reporting category. The awards support Alaska's efforts to enhance telephone technology and lay the groundwork for future Internet use in order to deliver quality Unemployment Insurance services.

The awards are based upon measurable improvements in quality, convenience and reduced costs to unemployed workers and employers, strategic design, and technical merit.

Alaska's UI program processes approximately 65,000 employer tax contribution reports and payments, collecting and depositing approximately $120 million into the Alaska account of the Federal UI Trust Fund each year. From July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002, over 50,000 people received a UI payment from Alaska's program, totaling $132,499,573.00.

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