Despite improvement, Mass. unemployment system remains one of the worst in the country by some measures

               

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Despite improvement, Mass. unemployment system remains one of the worst in the country by some measures   February 4, 2026 By Jordan Wolman and Chris Lisinski

New data from the Massachusetts unemployment insurance system shows how far the agency’s performance came in the final two months of 2025 — and how far it still has to go to climb out of its place near the bottom of the national rankings.

The state’s Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) issued nearly 74 percent of initial payments to eligible claimants within 35 days in December, up from just 49 percent in October, according to new data that CommonWealth Beacon obtained via public records request.

That’s an improvement of 25 percentage points within two months, but it still ranks among the slowest in the country in distributing the benefits and remains far below federal benchmarks.

In the meantime, the leadership on Beacon Hill has remained largely silent on the months-long upheaval that pushed Massachusetts to become the worst performer in the nation for much of 2025.

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While rank-and-file lawmakers report a surge in calls from constituents who waited weeks or months for jobless aid, legislative leaders have either declined to comment about the situation or sent one-line statements, and the heads of the House and Senate oversight committees did not respond to requests for comment.

The latest data provides a more complete picture of how the Massachusetts unemployment insurance system fared in 2025. After a major overhaul in May that sought to improve accessibility to the platform on phones and in multiple languages and boost fraud prevention tools, an initiative that won Gov. Maura Healey’s praises for promising to turn Massachusetts into a “top performing state” for the delivery of jobless benefits, the system cratered to an all-time low.

“We did notice that there were significant challenges that we had to address head on, which is exactly what we have been doing, and we will continue to punch through to ensure that eligible claimants are able to receive their benefits and receive their benefits timely,” Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones, who oversees the state’s unemployment system, said in an interview. “We’re trying to think creatively. The governor calls for us to think efficiently as well, and we’re doing exactly that, and we’re continuing to stay focused on it and will continue as we move forward in this year, knowing how important improving customer service is.”

In each month between June and October, immediately after the system overhaul in May, at least 4 in 10 new unemployment claims filed in Massachusetts by eligible workers went unpaid for 35 days or longer, according to federal data.

By that measure, Massachusetts posted some of its worst-performing months in state history and was the slowest state in the nation in issuing benefits over that span. A tax on Bay State businesses funds the jobless benefits, which are some of the most generous in the country.

Payments began moving more quickly in November, the newly released data show. That month, Massachusetts distributed aid to about 65 percent of initial claimants within 35 days.

In December, that rate rose again to 74 percent, the highest that metric has been since April, which was prior to the launch of the new system. However, it’s still about 20 points shy of the national average and a federal performance benchmark that calls on states to administer 93 percent of initial payments within 35 days.

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More Context Massachusetts set out to modernize its unemployment insurance system. Then it hit a new low. (January 2026)  Mass. owes feds $2.1 billion to resolve unemployment mistake (January 2025)

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