Utah’s nearly 80,000 employers, as well as individuals and families in need, continue to benefit from the best unemployment insurance and appeals programs in the nation, the U.S. Department of Labor affirmed today. Utah was honored for its top performing programs, which operate faster and more effectively than any other medium-sized state in the nation.

“We set a high bar of excellence for our service to both the employers who fund Utah’s Unemployment Insurance Program, and those individuals in need of temporary financial support,” said Jon Pierpont, executive director of the Department of Workforce Services. “These honors highlight our commitment to exceptional customer service and wise stewardship of taxpayer dollars."

Utah was recognized for its operational excellence in appeals decisions and tax operations. The awards were presented at the National Unemployment Insurance Directors’ Conference happening this week in Orlando, Florida. More...

To celebrate October’s National Disability Awareness Month, the Utah Center for Assistive Technology (UCAT) hosted an open house to showcase the different assistive technologies available in Utah. The open house gave the public an opportunity to see what assistive technologies are available through UCAT and its partners.

The open house featured Brian Lahti as the keynote speaker who is a former UCAT client. Brian has a spinal cord injury resulting from a car accident when he was a teenager. Working with UCAT, he was able to improve his mobility while attending school and his driving mobility. Brian has since married, had twins and graduated from law school. He shared his experiences at the open house to help attendees understand how UCAT staff can change lives with their services. More...

As part of the Department of Workforce Services’ comprehensive efforts to reduce the number of Utah families in intergenerational poverty (IGP), the Eligibility Services Division (ESD) has become a frontrunner in effectively engaging with and supporting these individuals and their families.

For a majority of Utah’s IGP population, contact with ESD is the only direct interaction they have with Workforce Services. ESD leadership recognized the unique opportunity their division has to become actively involved in serving these households. A work group was formed to identify what could be done to increase the division’s effectiveness in serving IGP customers. A significant outcome of this work group was the establishment of Community Resource Liaisons within ESD’s various teams. More...