evidence: The regular federal-state UI system was providing coverage to less than a third of jobless workers before the pandemic, and on average it replaced only about 40 percent of lost wages for those who received benefits. Significant gaps in UI coverage exist for workers in low-wage, part-time, and intermittent work, while self-employed contractors, including gig workers, are completely shut out of the system. Over the last decade, moreover, ten states have cut the duration of unemployment benefits, and a permanent federal program that’s designed to provide extended benefits during recessions has often been ineffective.[15] [...] Equitable coverage and adequate benefits should be a paramount goal for UI. That’s important not just during recessions, but also during normal economic times when millions of workers still lose their jobs through no fault of their own and need assistance as they look for new ones. The U.S. Labor Department (DOL) provided a helpful start down that road by using American Rescue Plan funding to provide grants to states to promote more equitable access to the permanent UI system.[24] But federal policymakers ultimately need to enact legislation to comprehensively reform the UI system on a permanent basis. The pandemic and its resulting recession provided an important lesson: policy reforms can meaningfully increase UI coverage for historically underserved populations, but robust outreach and oversight also are likely needed to fully address disparities in coverage.