Background: The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, Public Law 99-603, amended the Social Security Act (SSA) by adding to Section 1137 - "Income and Eligibility Verification System". Section 1137 provisions require States to verify, through the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the legal status of all aliens applying for benefits under certain Federally assisted and Federally funded programs, including Unemployment Compensation. To facilitate the required verification, INS developed the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE) system. SAVE consists of automated and manual procedures. The SAVE automated procedures, called primary verification, provide that entitlement agencies may access the INS alien status data base by a variety of automated methods, i.e., telephone, computer terminal, etc. Entitlement agencies may also access the INS alien status data base using manual (mail) procedures, referred to as secondary verification. All State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) are participating in SAVE; however, eight have been waived by the Secretary of Labor from participation in the automated portion of SAVE. Need for Information: The information from the Alien Claims Activity Report (ETA-9016) is needed to: a. Comply with the Department of Labor responsibility under IRCA concerning alien claimant activity; b. Assess whether, and the extent to which, the requirements of the automated INS verification system are cost-effective and otherwise appropriate for the unemployment compensation program; c. Make decisions as to the appropriateness of current and any future waiver requests; and d. Determine whether a SESA's administrative costs associated with SAVE are reasonable. The data collected on the ETA-9016 is needed from all SESAs, including those eight currently waived from participation in the automated portion of SAVE. OMB Approval: Approval has been received for continuation of the ETA-9016 reporting requirements through November 30, 1995 under OMB No. 1205-0268. Clarification of Reporting Instructions: Alien-initial claims workload data, reported in item 1 on Form ETA-9016, should match alien initial claims workload data used on the UI-3, Quarterly UI Contingency Report for SAVE. States should complete all items on the ETA-9016 report. States that were waived from participation in the automated portion of SAVE should enter a zero in item 2. SAVE program report (ETA-9016) data should be transmitted electronically. The data entry screen for electronic transmission resembles the paper form to the extent it was technically possible. Reports transmitted electronically do not have to be reported on a hard copy, either to the National or Regional Office. Hard paper copies of the report should be submitted only if hardware or software problems arise which will not allow timely electronic transmittal. In this case one copy of the ETA-9016 report should be submitted to: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ATTN: TEURA - Reports, Room S-4519 FPB 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20210 Instructions for transmittal of the ETA-9016, Alien Claims Activity Report, will be incorporated into UI Reports Handbook No. 401 in the near future. Burden Hour Estimate: The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average one hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden should be sent to: Office of Information Resources Management Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N-1301 FPB Washington, D.C. 20210 and to: Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (1205-0268), Washington, D.C. 20503. Action Required: State Administrators are requested to continue to submit the Alien Claims Activity Report (ETA-9016) data on a quarterly basis. ETA-9016 report data should be submitted by the 25th of the month following the quarter to which the data relate.

Background: States finance three different types of unem-ployment compensation (UC): regular, extended and additional benefits. Reporting for AB differs, in some respects, from regular and extended benefits. This Reports and Analysis Letter is issued to ensure that States are properly identifying and reporting AB. Definition of AB: Definitions for regular, extended and additional benefits are found in the extended benefit (EB) law (the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (EUCA)) and the EB regulations at 20 CFR Part 615. Regular benefits are those benefits normally payable under a State law, including UCFE and UCX. Extended benefits (EB) are those benefits payable under provisions of State law consistent with the EUCA and the EB regulations. AB or "additional compensation," is defined in Section 205(4), EUCA, as: compensation payable to exhaustees by reason of conditions of high unemployment or by reason of other special factors. "Compensation" is defined in Section 3306(h), FUTA, as "cash benefits payable to individuals with respect to their unemploy- ment." The EB regulations at 20 C.F.R. 615.5(a) define the term "exhaustee" as, in pertinent part, an individual who: (1) Has received ... all of the regular compensation that was payable under the applicable State law ... for the applicable benefit year .... The EB regulations at 20 C.F.R. 615.5(2)(f) also provides a definition of AB. This definition provides that AB is: compensation totally financed by a State and payable under a State [UC] law by reason of conditions of high unemployment or by reason of other special factors ... Section 1.E.2 of the UI Reports Handbook, ET Handbook No. 401, contains a similar definition. In sum, AB is: (1) a cash benefit paid to individuals with respect to their unemployment; (2) paid to individuals who have received all regular benefits for the applicable benefit year; (3) totally financed by a State; and (4) paid due to conditions of high unemployment or "other special factors." Examples of AB include, but are not limited to, the following: -- Programs extending duration of benefits for all exhaus- tees. -- Programs extending duration for special groups of exhaus- tees such as workers in a specific industry, factory or locality. -- Programs extending duration for individuals in approved training. -- Programs extending duration for individuals unemployed due to a disaster. As long as the payments are made with respect to the individual's unemployment, the source of funding for the payment is not relevant. Therefore, payments of AB may be made from a State's unemployment fund or another State fund. In most States, the individual's additional entitlement is determined after the individual has actually exhausted regular benefits. In other States the individual's additional entitlement is determined at the time of filing a first claim for regular benefits. In both cases, the additional entitlement is considered to be AB since it becomes payable only after the individual has exhausted regular benefits. Reporting Instructions for AB: a. Workload Reports. States are reimbursed for adminis- trative costs for workload under AB programs. To that end, AB workload is to be reported on the UI-3 report. Instructions for the UI-3 report are contained in the annual Program and Budget Plan, ET Handbook No. 336. b. Statistical Reports. Programmatic data on AB is to be reported only on the ETA 539 report. Effective with reports for the period beginning October 1, 1994, AB data should not be reported on, or in any way be included in, any version of the following statistical reports: ETA 5159, ETA 207, ETA 218, and 5130. Instructions on removing AB counts from the ETA 207 and the ETA 5130, the only of the above reports currently requiring the inclusion of AB, will be issued under separate cover. Concerning the 539 report, AB weeks claimed will be reported as required by Sections 1.F.13 and 14 of the UI Reports Handbook, ET Handbook No. 401, under the "ABT" and "ABUI" items. c. Fund Reports. AB paid from the State's unemployment fund is to be reported as a disbursement on line 45 ("Other") of the ETA 2112 report. AB paid from a State fund which is not the unemployment fund is to be reported as a deposit on either line 24 or 25 ("From Other Sources") and as a disbursement on line 45 ("Other"). Amounts drawn down from the State's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund for the payment of AB are to be included in the ETA 8401 and 8413 reports. Action Required: Please inform appropriate staff of these instructions.

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Reference: RAL No. 3-91, RAL No. 1-82 Background: In the above referenced RALs, it was requested that data from the ETA 539 report, Weekly Claims and Extended Benefits Trigger Data, not be released until the official release time in the National Office. Early release of this data could give some individuals or companies unfair advantage in the financial markets. Embargoing of this data has been difficult for some SESAs because of State freedom of information acts and increasing pressure from within State governments to have that data available. Because of the need to use interstate agent information to have accurate State by State insured unemployment and because of issues with clearance and publication requirements, it was not possible for the National Office to officially publish this data much earlier than twelve days after the close of the period to which the data relate. However, in consultation with State Labor Market Information Chiefs, and at their urging, the ETA 538 report was developed to allow for an earlier release of National figures and greatly reduce the time that the States are requested to embargo their data. The ETA 538 data will be published by the National Office each Thursday, five days after the end of the week to which the data relate. The first ETA 538 data was published on March 18, 1993, for claims filed during the week ending March 13, 1993, and reflecting unemployment for the week ending March 6, 1993. Embargoing State ETA 538 data until the official release time will allow SESAs to release State ETA 539 data for the same week--which is of more interest within the State--at that same time or seven days prior to the former embargo date. This also means that States can release their input to the ETA 539 report seven days prior to the date this State-specific data will be released by the U.S. Department of Labor in its Weekly Claims Report and news release. Action Required: It is requested that SESAs not release their ETA 538 data to outside parties until the official National Office release time, usually 8:30 a.m. eastern time each Thursday following the end of the week in which the claims were filed. It is further requested that States not release their ETA 539 data until the date of the release of the ETA 538 representing the same week.

Reference: ET Handbook No. 401, Second Edition, Change 5, ET Handbook No. 402, Third Edition, Change 1, UIPL 26-94 dated May 12, 1994. Background: Form ETA 581 has been revised to accomodate data needed by the Revenue Quality Control (RQC) program to assess administration of State tax operations and to obtain a true picture of accounts receivable. As of January 1, 1995, States have been required to begin gathering this data. The first report covering the January through March 1995 quarter was due in the National Office on May 20. To ensure that the data reported adhere to Department of Labor definitions and are counted properly, the Department is undertaking the development of an approach to validate Unemployment Insurance (UI) revenue data. The design is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete and will be integrated with our Unemployment Insurance Service data validation effort. Transition Data: It is recognized that a few States may not immediately be able to provide data on "Receivables Removed at End of Report Period," Items 25 and 37 on the report, as well as new or revised data in other items. If the State is unable to provide accurate information for these items or is unsure about the correct amounts, it is permissible to enter "zero" instead of an estimate. These ETA 581 items can not be left blank. The reason for entering "zero" should be noted in the comments section. Permission to enter "zero" is being granted on a temporary basis and should not be considered permission for indefinite nonreporting of these items. These data items will be monitored and States will be contacted if they continue to report zeros in these items. Unemployment Insurance Required Reports (UIRR) Software and Hardware: The Department has developed screens to accept this new information. Screen and ASCII upload capabilites were downloaded to State UIRR systems in April. The data map and ASCII file specifications were transmitted as ET Handbook No. 402, 3rd Edition, Change 1. With UIPL 26-94, the Department announced a one-time grant to States to assist in purchasing terminals/workstations for use on the UI system. On April 29, 1994, an update to the Regional Financial Operating Plan allocated a total of $854,000 to States for this equipment. Personal computers or X-terminals should have been purchased by now to prepare for the transition to the graphical user interface (GUI) environment which will be used by all UI applications. RQC Use of ETA 581 Data: RQC relies on the ETA 581 data in the calculation of measures of tax performance. Separate computer software to calculate these measures will be provided to all SESAs in June. The RQC software reads the information entered into the UIRR system. RQC reviewers will have the temporary capability to enter data which differs from the UIRR system into a separate RQC file so that the measures can be calculated. It does not change or update the UIRR database. This temporary system is to accomodate any startup difficulties experienced by SESAs in creating programs to capture new or revised data elements on the new ETA 581 and also to accomodate those States which have been able to accumulate several year's worth of historical data reflecting the new ETA 581 instructions. Action Required.: SESA administrators should review their procedure for reporting and transmitting ETA 581 data to ensure accuracy. This RAL should be distributed to State UI tax staff, RQC staff, persons responsible for data entry, and others as appropriate.

Background: There are four UI banking reports: ETA 8401, Monthly Analysis of Benefit Payment Account; ETA 8405, Monthly Analysis of Clearing Account; ETA 8413, Income-Expense Analysis, UC Fund, Benefit Payment Account; and ETA 8414, Income-Expense Analysis, UC Fund, Clearing Account. The National Office has extensively revised these reports and electronic entry screens have been written for them. A request for approval of the new abbreviated forms is at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The electronic entry screens have been developed and have been utilized in the National Office for entry for several months. These screens have been downloaded to State systems. While these screens will be available and States may use them in lieu of submitting a paper report, the electronic submittal will not be required until OMB approval for the new forms is received. Electronic Submission: Reporting on these diminished forms is not required. Continued submittal on the currently approved versions of the paper form is still being accepted. However, for those SESAs that wish to take advantage of the UIRR entry system for these forms, electronic reporting will be accepted in lieu of paper reports. OMB Approval: The reduced reporting for forms ETA 8401, ETA 8405, ETA 8413, and ETA 8414 are at OMB for approval. SESAs will be informed when approval is received and electronic reporting will become required. Action Required: Please inform appropriate staff of the availability of electronic reporting of banking reports.

Background: This RAL continues the series of annual Tax Rate by Industry Tables. This transmission updates the series through 1993.

Background: During the November 14 - 19 and December 18 - January 5 furlough periods, States received UCFE claims for furloughed workers. These claims were handled differently in different States and, therefore, reported differently. This directive discusses UCFE claim filing situations that occurred and how States should report data under these varying circumstances for this recent furlough and for any future furlough(s). When Claims are Counted: ETA Handbook 401, Unemployment Insurance Reports Handbook, Section I-2-3, item D.1. requires that claims activity should be counted as of the date it occurs (i.e., when claims are taken), thus, intrastate initial claims and continued weeks claimed are counted during the week the claims are filed. For purposes of this guidance, the words "taken or took" is synonymous with "filed". Interstate liable initial claims and weeks claimed are reported during the week received by the liable State. These instructions, which apply to the ETA 5159, apply equally to the ETA 539 and ETA 538 reports. Therefore, claims should be counted during the week when the claims are filed whether they are filed by mail, taken over the phone, or accepted in person. Due to the quick turnaround required of the ETA 539, the following special provision is provided for that report. ETA Handbook 401 states in Section C. on page I-1-5, "If necessary to meet the due date, any State agency may cut off its report period at noon Friday". State Experience: The following situations were reported to have taken place in the recent furlough with respect to intrastate UCFE claims: State took claims and later canceled them. State received claims but later returned them to claimants with no action. State took claims and some claimants later withdrew their claims. State set up special intake for UCFE claimants on Saturday. State took claims but did not process or count them in the week they were taken but did process and count them in subsequent weeks. States accepted mass claims from Federal Agencies and may have processed those claims or held them. How Counts Should be Made: The following describes how the UCFE claims taken during the furlough period described in item 4. should have been counted. State took claims and later canceled them. If the State considered these claims to be "filed" and then, when the furloughed workers returned to work, the claims were canceled, these claims should be counted since the claims were accepted and work was performed by the State. They should be counted for the week in which they were filed. State received claims but later returned them to claimants with no action. While the State physically received these claims, they were not considered to be "filed" by the State. Therefore, these claims should not have been reported. If they were reported, they should be removed from the claims count and a revised report submitted for the week in which they were reported. State took claims and some claimants later withdrew their claims. If the State considered these claims to be "filed", the claims would be counted as of the date during the week they were taken even though the claim was later withdrawn. State set up special intake for UCFE claimants on Saturday. Claims were taken in accordance with State law. The special timing provisions of the ETA 539 (see item 3 above) allows, but does not require, a State's reporting week to run from noon on Friday through noon the following Friday. If a State uses this alternate week pattern, then claims filed on Saturday may be attributed to and reported for the following week. State took claims but did not process or count them in the week they were taken but did process and count them in subsequent weeks. As stated in 3. above, claims are counted during the week they are taken. If the large intake of claims were not processed until a different week from the one in which the claims were taken, then the claims counts should be adjusted to reflect the week in which the claims were taken. States accepted mass claims from Federal Agencies and may have processed those claims or held them. Some furloughed claimants were told to return claims forms to their Federal agencies. If the Federal agency sent these forms to States, then these claims would be either counted or not counted depending on which of the above procedures the State utilized in handling those claims. Under this procedure, the Federal agency, in effect, acted as an agent for the State. Therefore, all claims considered "filed" by the State should be reported during the week the claimant submitted the forms to the Federal agency. Action Required: States should review how UCFE claims were handled and the workload reported or not reported during the recent furlough and, if necessary: Make adjustments in counts already provided to the National Office; Set procedures in place so that claims counts will be reported properly in the event another furlough occurs. Questions: Address questions to the appropriate Regional Office.

Background: The attached tables continue the series of annual Tax Rates by Industry tables. This transmission updates the series through 1994.

Background: RAL 2-87, issued May 26, 1987, disseminated a package containing UI Tax Rates by Industry for 1975-1985. These data were prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from the ES202 Employment, Wages, and Contributions report. Each year, BLS has prepared annual updates of this information as it has become available. The attached tables update the series through 1995.