This Fact Sheet builds on MTF’s earlier UI Fact Sheets, which outlined the basic structure of the system and detailed the impacts of the pandemic on the UI Trust Fund.

The state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) system faces a fundamental challenge that threatens the  long-term solvency of the UI Trust Fund; the system pays out more funds than it takes in, and it continues to deal with the impact of significant benefit payments during the pandemic and the numerous policy changes that were made to cover the cost of pandemic-era benefits. 

Since the pandemic, the system has become more expensive, as employer contributions and UI benefits continue to rise, surpassing any other year in the past decade, aside from 2020. In 2025, employers contributed $1.5 billion to the UI system, $130 million (9.8 percent) more than in 2015, and UI benefits reached $2.4 billion, an increase of $920 million (60.9 percent) over 2015. The state’s UI system now faces a new challenge, repaying the federal government more than $2 billion after federal funds were misapplied during the pandemic.