What is Unemployment Insurance?

The Utah U.I. program is a federal/state partnership established in 1936 to provide temporary financial assistance to eligible unemployed workers. This program provides economic stability to workers, families, communities and the Utah economy as a whole.

The unemployment insurance program is operated on general insurance principles, wherein employers pay contributions to fund benefits for workers during periods of unemployment. Contributions collected from Utah employers under the state unemployment tax are used exclusively to pay benefits to unemployed workers. All receipts from this tax are deposited with the U.S. Treasury in the Utah Unemployment Compensation Fund.

Eligibility for U.I. benefits is based in part on wages earned in insured work, not on the unemployed workers individual or family financial resources. As such, U.I. is not welfare, Social Security, worker's compensation or disability assistance.