Lauren Murfree and Zia Saylor: State can do more to help with unexpected job loss

Unexpected job losses upend the lives we envisioned for ourselves and our families, affect our sense of self and throw our financial futures into question. With tens of thousands of federal jobs cut, unprecedented funding freezes, tariffs and a possible recession on the horizon, it is more urgent than ever that we listen to and learn from Hoosiers who have experienced job loss about how best to mitigate the harms of unemployment and innovate to build a resilient and skilled workforce.

The Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute’s recent report, “The Link Between Employment and Well-being: Hoosiers’ Experiences of Job Loss and the Case for Modernizing WARN,” brings job loss into focus.

The most immediate concern is often financial as workers struggle to determine how to pay their bills. Awaiting unemployment insurance creates difficulties paying for basic needs like food, child care and transportation.

This financial distress strains mental health and relationships, creating a domino effect that can linger well beyond a spell of unemployment.

The broader community also suffers. Large-scale job losses depress economies, make workers more likely to undertake large moves and induce young people to reconsider career trajectories. Policymakers thoughtfully attending to job loss and transitions would not only help employees and communities but also businesses, which would be able to access skilled workers more easily.

Requiring notice before a layoff would reduce unemployment and potential harm. Indeed, every Hoosier we surveyed agreed that more notice—and especially notice with resources provided—would have been welcome. There is precedent for this under federal law: The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice—or WARN Act—requires 60 days’ notice at companies employing 100 people or more and conducting significant layoffs.

Evidence suggests that WARN increased rates of subsequent employment and resulted in higher wages in new employment among workers who receive advance notice of unemployment. Notice allows workers to engage in skill-building activities and to begin job searches, thus minimizing time spent receiving unemployment insurance.

Another promising strategy emerged from the Indiana General Assembly this year. Senate Bill 488 creates a skills-training pilot program that will offer unemployment insurance recipients with limited education and job prospects the ability to undertake and persist in upskilling programs by supplementing their unemployment insurance—or UI—during training. This would allow businesses to hire workers with desired skills, enable workers to obtain the needed training to become reemployed at higher pay rates and unlock increased tax revenue from improved workforce stability.

Beyond these, UI benefits themselves could use an upgrade. Many of the Hoosiers we heard from reported accepting a position with lower pay than their previous position, in part because, at 47% of the worker’s previous salary up to $390 per week, living on UI can be untenable. Rent costs an average of $949 per month in Indiana, and the average used car payment is more than $500 a month. Workers need to maintain these essential foundations while engaged in job searching or upskilling.

Indiana policymakers have already begun addressing job transitions with SB 488, and they should continue to build upon such efforts through improvements to notice and to the UI program. With so much uncertainty on the horizon, Indiana needs to ensure that Hoosiers don’t suffer and that talent is retained in our state. Taking this opportunity for innovation for the good of all involved creates a pathway for a stronger Indiana.•

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Murfree is a policy analyst, and Saylor is a researcher and communications coordinator at the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute.