Jobless Americans are still suffering. America must not look away.

By Catherine Rampell,

In the midst of all that is happening — a coup attempt, impeachment proceedings, mass deaths, other overwhelming events — we cannot forget the millions of Americans who are still desperate for work.

Last week, once again, more Americans newly filed for unemployment benefits than was the case during the very worst period of the Great Recession. The numbers spiked from the previous week, possibly because of holiday-related filing delays or deteriorating economic conditions; when including “gig” workers and others covered by a temporary federal jobless benefits program, well over 1 million workers newly joined the unemployment rolls, according to the Labor Department.

These workers lost their livelihoods through no fault of their own. They are struggling to keep their families fed and housed. And to add insult to injury, about 1 million previously laid-off workers still have not received benefit payments they are owed because state offices are overwhelmed, backlogged and broken.

Congress belatedly passed another round of fiscal relief in late December that included a few months of expanded jobless benefits. The legislation is helpful but not sufficient, particularly since virus infection rates are still rising and the coronavirus vaccine rollout has been slow. Fortunately, with Democrats soon in unified control of government, there is an opportunity not only for additional, immediate relief but also bigger and longer-term fixes that could make this busted safety-net program one day function properly.

The Democrats’ first priority must be addressing the immediate crisis. That means doing all they can to prevent further layoffs — such as by extending more aid to cash-strapped states and cities — and making sure jobless benefits continue for those workers already displaced. Lawmakers must extend the three main emergency benefit programs already on the books: those that make benefits more generous (through a $300 weekly federal supplement), available for additional weeks, and accessible to expanded categories of workers (such as freelancers).

These programs are all slated to end in March but will clearly be needed long past then.

President-elect Joe Biden wants to extend versions of these federal programs through September. That would be a good start. Even better would be linking these programs (and other safety-net benefits) to the state of the economy so that benefits automatically trigger on and off as on-the-ground conditions warrant. Then helpless workers wouldn’t have to wait for lawmakers to act in an economic crisis, which Congress has repeatedly proven unable to do reliably or quickly. Biden has committed to working with Congress on creating such a system; Sens. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), among others, have already offered useful blueprints for ways to design it.

The current crisis has also made more salient the horrors of the unemployment insurance IT system — or systems, plural. Each state and territory runs its own program, with its own obscure set of eligibility rules, and its own terrible user interface, often using decades-old software.

In many states, workers find it cumbersome or even impossible to prove eligibility — which some officials consider a feature, not a bug, of their system. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) acknowledged last year that out-of-work Floridians were having so much difficulty collecting benefits because the system included “pointless roadblocks” designed to help the state pay out the “least number of claims.”

Decrepit technology is why Congress has had difficulty calibrating the generosity of unemployment benefits. Economic experts have advised replacing a specific fraction of a worker’s lost wages — say, 80 percent — but IT limitations forced lawmakers to resort to a less targeted, flat amount instead (such as the current $300 across-the-board supplement).

Setting minimum federal quality standards for both benefit levels and user accessibility is critical. Past efforts to modernize unemployment systems’ IT have “made it easier on the state administration process, and not necessarily easier for users,” said National Employment Law Project senior policy analyst Michele Evermore. States that have finished IT “upgrades,” she said, have typically experienced immediate increases in call volume and claim denials, as workers fumble through yet another exasperating interface.

The feds must give states necessary resources for upgrades — but also attach strings so that these upgrades actually serve workers. Better still, the federal government could create a standardized software framework so states don’t have to reinvent the wheel; it could also nudge states to take on more of the burden of assessing eligibility, through the use of existing administrative records, so that workers face fewer headaches.

Investing in the IT and programmatic upgrades to solve these problems will take years. Mid-crisis never feels like the right time to embark on such a daunting project. But lawmakers must address these problems before the country moves on — and before the next crisis’s desperate workers fall victim to the same fate.

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Read more: Matt Bruenig: The $2,000 checks are good policy. America’s poorest are depending on them. The Post’s View: Spending now to modernize the unemployment system would save money later Opinions: ‘Where will I end up? Homeless?’ Readers share stories about the expiration of unemployment benefits. The Post’s View: It’s great the economy grew. But it’s still in a hole, and Congress and Trump have gone AWOL. Helaine Olen: Unemployment is still at crisis levels. Why aren’t we treating it as an emergency?