In 2018, amendments to Section 306(c) of the Social Security Act (SSA) permanently authorized the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) program and introduced substantive changes, including formula-based funding to states and a series of requirements intended to increase the use and availability of evidence-based reemployment interventions and strategies. The RESEA program aims to help Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants return to work quickly and improve employment outcomes. It is also intended to strengthen UI program integrity and promote alignment between UI and the broader workforce development system. This brief describes changes in implementation of the RESEA program and the findings from multiple rounds of a survey of states.  

• States consistently reported that they targeted claimants identified as most likely to exhaust UI benefits when selecting participants for the RESEA program.
• The timing of the initial RESEA meeting relative to the notification of selection remained relatively consistent between Waves 1 and 4. Across the four waves, the initial RESEA meeting most often occurred within two weeks after notification of RESEA selection.
• Overall, states provided more flexibility in scheduling and location of the RESEA meetings than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of remote service delivery options, including phone calls and videoconferences, increased. Despite increased flexibility, the content and services provided during the initial RESEA meetings remained similar between 2020-2023.
• In Waves 1, 3, and 4, more than half of states reported conducting a subsequent RESEA meeting after the initial RESEA meeting. In Wave 4, the number of subsequent meetings conducted increased with several states conducting more than one subsequent meeting. 
• States reported increases in activities designed to promote attendance and service delivery, such as reminder notifications to claimants. Many states leveraged the use of letter, phone, email, and text reminders to increase attendance at mandatory RESEA meetings, thereby reducing the failure to report rate.
• By Wave 4, nearly all states had resumed pre-pandemic, staff-led reviews while sustaining more flexible and online review procedures. Before the pandemic, RESEA staff were required to review claimants’ work search logs. During the pandemic, their approach to work search reviews changed by either suspending the requirement or transitioning to an online system.
• Relative to the first wave in 2020, states reported conducting more data analyses of RESEA participants to assess program effectiveness by Wave 4.
• In Wave 4, 12 states reported having completed an evaluation of their RESEA program and 37 states reported planning for future RESEA evaluations of program components. Some states plan to conduct program component evaluations on job readiness workshops, intensive career services, RESEA meetings, or service delivery modes.

Brief: Tracking Changes in Program Implementation: Findings from Multiple Rounds of the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) Implementation Survey