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Revised state unemployment data validation operations guide

Summary ETA sent states replacement pages for the unemployment insurance Data Validation Operations Guide, changing wage-item validation instructions in Chapters 11 and 12. The official letter’s PDF includes the revised pages. ETA still lists the change as Active, but the letter printed a December 14, 2012 expiration date; current applicability is unclear.
Document
Federal guidance
Agency
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
Document number
UIPL No. 01-11, Change 1
Date issued
December 14, 2011
Status
Unknown
ETA lists this change Active as of 2026-10-24, but the letter prints an expiration date of December 14, 2012. Current applicability is unclear.
Status last verified October 24, 2026

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This page explains the general guidance. Ask about your specific situation and see what current federal labor law says, with citations.

The current status of this document is unclear
ETA lists this change Active as of 2026-10-24, but the letter prints an expiration date of December 14, 2012. Current applicability is unclear. It may no longer reflect the agency's current position. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance, and verify current law before relying on anything here.
About this page: The full text below is the official document from U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.
2011/uipl_1_11_chg1_acc.pdf (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/UIPL/2011/uipl_1_11_chg1_acc.pdf)

                                                            CLASSIFICATION
     EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION                 Unemployment Insurance
                 ADVISORY SYSTEM                            CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL
                                                            OUI/DPM
            U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
                                                            DATE
               Washington, D.C. 20210
                                                               December 14, 2011


 ADVISORY:          UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO. 01-11
                    Change 1

 TO:                STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

 FROM:              JANE OATES /s/
                    Assistant Secretary

 SUBJECT:           Revisions to the State Unemployment Insurance (UI) Data Validation (DV)
                    Operations Guide (Employment and Training (ET) Operations Guide 411)

    1. Purpose. To transmit a revision of the State UI DV Operations Guide (ET Operations Guide
 411).

    2. References. ET Handbook No. 361, “UI Data Validation Handbook, Tax” (May 2011).

    3. Background. UI DV is necessary to ensure that data reported by states that are used to
 measure performance, for administrative funding allocations, for economic analysis, and for
 other purposes are accurate and comparable across states. States are required to file a series of
 standardized reports on their UI operations with the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and
 Training Administration. Reports covered by DV are required on a monthly or quarterly basis.
 The DV State Software facilitates the validation process and generates standardized outputs that
 document the DV results.

    4. Summary of ET Operations Guide 411 Modifications. All of Chapter 11 and part of
 Chapter 12 of the UI DV Operations Guide have been revised to reflect the updates and
 enhancements to the Wage Items function of the Tax application in the DV software.

    5. OMB Approval. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the UI DV
 data collection through July 31, 2014. The approval is OMB No. 1205-0431. The public
 reporting burden for the collection of information has not changed.

6. Action Requested. Distribute the attached pages (Chapter 11, pages 75 through 79; and
Chapter 12, pages 83 and 91) to all holders of UI DV Operations Guide (ET Operations Guide
411), August 2010. Users should remove existing pages and replace them with the attached.
States should review these changes and adjust their procedures, as necessary.

7. Inquiries. All questions should be directed to the appropriate Regional Office.


   RESCISSIONS                                             EXPIRATION DATE
   None                                                    December 14, 2012

8. Attachment. Revised pages of ET Operations Guide 411, “UI Data Validation Operations
Guide” (August 2010) Chapter 11 (pages 75 through 79); and Chapter 12 (pages 83 and 91).





Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide



                                  Chapter 11

Viewing the Wage Item Validation Screen in Tax

Wage item validation consists of verifying the accuracy of counts of wage record
transactions, which appear on the ETA 581 report. A wage record is the listing of
an employee’s wages in covered employment. Employers are required to report
this information to the State Unemployment Insurance program quarterly.

To validate wage items, a validator compares counts from the ETA 581 report,
(item 5 cell c14) with reconstructed counts produced under controlled conditions.
The validator tests that every wage record is counted and that the count does not
include corrections of previously reported wage records (counted twice),
incomplete wage records or duplicate records. A detailed explanation of wage
item validation is provided in Module 5 of the ET Handbook 361- Tax.

Instructions to enter wage item validation results into the software follow:

   1 Select Wage Item Validation from the Other Validations box on the Tax
       Selection Criteria screen and click View.




       When you select Wage Item Validation, you will see the date when results
       were last transmitted to the National Office at the bottom of the Other
       Validations box. If you have not transmitted any results, the Last
       Transmitted field will display “Never”.




                                        75                            November 2011

Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide




   2 Click on View to get to the Wage Item Validation screen.




      If you have never entered results before you might get a screen with no
      wage items.




   3 Select the quarter from the Report Quarter drop down menu, then input
      the year (year must be “YYYY” format) for the reporting period you want to
      validate.




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Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide



      If you have previously entered results, you will see them and you can edit
      or delete them. Wage items do not get overwritten when you load extract
      files and are not dependent on any population.

   4 To add a wage item, click on the Add Wage Item button located at the
      bottom of the screen.




   5 In the Add Wage Items for Validation pop up window enter the information
      for the wage item you want to add and click Save.




            Select the Mode Type from the drop-down menu. This is a general
             description of the method or way your state received or “captured”
             wage records that you are validating.
            Enter the Mode. This is a brief description of the specific item you
             are validating. If Mode Type is used more than once, each specific
             Mode should have a unique name/description. For example, if
             CD/Diskette is selected twice as your Mode Type, the Mode could
             be entered as CD1 and CD2 with a brief description like CD1 – First
             Month, CD2 Second Month.
            Next, enter Sample Size, which cannot be zero or greater than 150.
             If Sample Size is less than 150, the software will automatically fill in
             the Cases Reviewed field with the same number as the Sample
             Size. If 150 is entered as the Sample Size, then for the Cases
             Reviewed field you must enter 50 if you are reviewing Stage 1 or
             enter 100 if you are reviewing Stage 2. Refer to UI DV Handbook,




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Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide



             Tax (ET Handbook 361), Module 5 Wage Items, for more
             information on when Stage 1 or Stage 2 are required.
            Enter the recount for that category in the Validation Count field.
            Enter the counts for the applicable time period that are reflected in
             the ETA 581 Report in the Reported Count field.

      When you save the item, the Wage Item Validation screen displays the
      item added and calculates the Difference between the Reported Count
      and Validation Count fields, and whether the item passed or failed
      validation.




      Repeat this procedure to ensure that you have validated wage items for
      every mode your state’s employers used to submit them.

   6 To update any field of a wage item other than the Mode Type and Mode
      fields, click on the field box you want to edit and edit the field. Then click
      the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.




      You cannot update the Mode Type or Mode fields. Instead, you need to
      delete the wage item and add a new one with the correct Mode.




                                       78                            November 2011

Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide



   7 To delete a wage item click on the Delete button next to the wage item,
      located on the column “Delete Wage Item”?




      A pop-up window will be displayed to confirm your request. Click OK to
      delete the item or Cancel if you don’t want to delete it.




   8 After you finish entering your validation results, click the Save button at
      the bottom of the screen to save your work.




                                      79                          November 2011

Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide



      In both the Data Element Sorts and the Wage Item Validation screens,
      only available in Tax, the Add Comments button is displayed at the
      bottom of the screen.




      Click on the Add Comments button to bring up Comments box.




                                     83                      November 2011

Unemployment Insurance Data Validation Operations Guide




Transmitting Wage Item Validation Results

You submit wage item validation results to DOL using the Transmit button at the
bottom of the Wage Item Validation screen. To transmit wage item validation
results follow the next steps.

   1 Click on the Transmit button. The Transmit button is located at the
      bottom of the Wage Item Validation screen.




              Clicking the transmit button multiple times or closing the
              application before the submission process is complete could
              cause problems with your submission. Click only one time and
              wait until you get the window saying “Wage Item Validation has
              been submitted”.




                                      91                         November 2011

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