Procedures for release of 1991 unemployment insurance quality-control data
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U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Classification: UI/BQC
Correspondence symbol: TEUQS
Issue date: March 30, 1992
Rescissions: None
Expiration date: March 31, 1993
Directive: UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO. 21-92
To: ALL STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES
From: DONALD J. KULICK, Administrator for Regional Management
Subject: Procedures for Release of Unemployment Insurance Benefits Quality Control (BQC) Data
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Purpose. To provide State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) with guidelines for the annual release of Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefits Quality Control (BQC) program data for Calendar Year (CY) 1991.
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References. 20 CFR 602; Federal Register Notice, March 26, 1990, 54 11112; and Benefits Quality Control State Operations Handbook, ET Handbook 395.
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Background. The final rule to establish the Unemployment Insurance Quality Control program is found at 20 CFR Part 602. Effective October 5, 1987, QC programs in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have selected weekly random samples of UI benefit payments for investigation under the mandatory program.
20 CFR 602.21(g) provides that each State shall:
Release the results of the QC program at the same time each year, providing calendar year results using a standardized format to present the data as prescribed by the Department; States will have the opportunity to release this information prior to any release by the Department.
The notice of procedures for the release of BQC data for the UI program was published in the Federal Register on March 26, 1990, at 54 FR 11112.
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Date of Record. The Department has established close of business (c.o.b.) April 24, 1992, as the date of record for State databases for computation of the error rates for the Annual Report of QC data for CY 1991. All information in the Annual Report will be based on CY 1991 QC cases that have been signed off by the QC supervisor by c.o.b. April 24, 1992. States must not update any CY 1991 QC cases after this date until they have reviewed the computations of the error rates and have reconciled any differences. Any data analysis supporting the Annual Report must be run on the database as it exists at c.o.b. on April 24. If States make any further changes, their data and results will differ from the data and results of the National Office (NO). These differences will then have to be reconciled.
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Annual Report Software. The current software for the Annual Report will not change in regard to the computation of rates. Some modifications have been made to the footnotes, as described below. States may run the rates as soon as all cases are completed. The date of record will be c.o.b. April 24, 1992.
The National Office will produce an Annual Report for each State, based on the QC cases as of c.o.b. April 24, 1992.
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Attachment 1. It is divided into three main sections.
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Quality Control Data
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Total Dollars Paid in Population
Total UI benefits paid to the population of UI claimants who comprise the sampling frames for all weeks in CY 1991 for which the State pulled a QC sample.
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Sample Size
Total UI payments selected during CY 1991 (QC batches 9101 through 9152) and completed (QC supervisor sign-off) by c.o.b. April 24, 1992. This is the number of QC sample cases from which the rates and sampling errors (confidence intervals) are estimated.
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Proper Payments
The weighted ratio estimate of total dollars properly paid to total dollars paid expressed as a percentage.
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Overpayments
The weighted ratio estimate of total dollars overpaid to total dollars paid expressed as a percentage.
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Underpayments
The weighted ratio estimate of total dollars underpaid to total dollars paid expressed as a percentage.
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95% Confidence Interval
A confidence interval, expressed as +/- a percentage, will be constructed for each of the three estimated rates. The actual rate is expected to lie within 95 percent of the intervals constructed from repeated samples of the same size and selected in the same manner as the QC sample.
Footnotes
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The footnotes that will appear on State QC Annual Reports to describe certain conditions that affect the data are described in Attachment 1.
Since the publication of the CY 1990 BQC data, the following changes and additions have been made to the footnotes.
- Footnote 3: Reference to the possible reduction in the precision of the estimates because the State pulled BQC samples below the minimum prescribed batch levels was deleted.
Footnote 6: This footnote will only appear if the percentage on BQC cases that were not completed as of the official cut off date of April 24, 1992, exceeds the program requirement that not more than 2 percent of the cases remain incomplete.
Footnote 7: This new footnote will appear if the State's BQC sample for the calendar year is 50 or more cases below its located annual BQC sample.
Footnote 8: This new footnote will appear if the dollars paid in the State's BQC population vary from control limits.
Narrative
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States are invited to supply a narrative analysis that will accompany their Annual Report. The Department will include this narrative in the digest of State Annual Reports that it will prepare (see section 10, below).
The narrative may include, but is not limited to, a discussion of State laws and how they affect error rates, an explanation of circumstances that led to some degree of inaccuracy in the reported error rates, and proposed or actual corrective action strategies.
State narratives must be received in the National Office no later than June 5, 1992. If the State does not plan to submit a narrative, the State should notify the National Office by June 5, 1992, that no narrative will be submitted. The procedures for preparing and transmitting the Annual Report narrative to the National Office are described in Attachment 3.
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Supplemental Data. In order for the SESAs to interpret the data in the Annual Report and provide narrative explanations of the data, the Department recognizes the need for additional information on cause and responsibility. The software that produces the QC Annual Report will also generate a separate report consisting of up to 16 responsibility categories and up to 6 cause categories. If the categories are equal to "0" the item will not be displayed in the table. Responsibility and cause data will be reported as percentages of UI dollars overpaid. The format for this report is shown in Attachment 4.
In order to provide States with the greatest flexibility in interpreting the data, all possible responsibility codes and broad cause categories can be generated. States can combine categories which contain few sample cases, where appropriate. No sampling errors will be computed because the publication of these percentage rates is not mandatory. States should be aware that many of these percentages are based on small numbers of QC sample cases and may have relatively large sampling errors. The Department will publish such data in the technical appendix, along with additional analysis where appropriate.
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Comment Period. QC Annual Reports produced by the Department of Labor will be transmitted to each State on May 8, 1992. Each State should review its Annual Report and if there are any comments submit them to the National Office (Attn: TEUQS, Andy Spisak) by May 29, 1992. SESA comments will be discussed and reconciled by June 5, 1992.
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Public Release by SESA. As stated in the Federal Register notice of March 26, 1990:
Each State will release the required data annually through established channels for disseminating State performance data. In accordance with established State procedures, the data must be provided to those who normally receive performance/evaluation data and to anyone else who requests it. It is no longer necessary to publish a notice of availability.
States must release their Annual Reports by June 26, 1992. If a State fails to release data in accordance with these procedures, the Department, in its annual review of State QC operations as specified in 20 CFR, Part 602, Section 602.31, will take appropriate action.
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Federal Release of Data. The Department will announce the availability of QC program data for CY 1991 through a notice published in the Federal Register on or about July 31, 1992. The Department's publication will be a digest prefaced by background information on the Quality Control program, and a brief discussion of how the error rate estimates were computed. Readers will be discouraged from comparing results among States. Each State's section, including its Annual Report and narrative, will be displayed separately. State sections will be ordered alphabetically to discourage ranking and comparisons. The name of the State official designated by the State as its Annual Report contact will also be published.
For CY 1991, the Department will continue the practice begun with CY 1989 data of publishing certain analytical information on aspects of the QC findings.
If the Department determines that a State has failed to follow the prescribed QC methodology -- in terms of sample selection, data collection methodology, or case completion timeliness -- to such an extent that the data are not reliable, the Department will publish an explanation of the major deficiency in lieu of an Annual Report for that State. Also in accordance with instructions in the Program and Budget Plan, ET Handbook No. 336 (2nd edition), States will be required to address these areas by submitting corrective action plans for the upcoming fiscal year.
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Key Dates. The following is a summary of key dates for the public release of CY 1991 QC data.
4/24
Department of Labor electronically updates the Annual Report software on the State PRO 380s to include footnote modifications.
4/24
Date of record for State QC databases; State QC supervisors sign-off cases by c.o.b.
4/29-5/8
Department of Labor generates Annual Reports for all States.
5/8
Department of Labor sends Annual Reports to the States.
5/11-29
States review Annual Reports and submit comments regarding discrepancies to Department of Labor.
6/1-5
Department of Labor and States discuss and reconcile comments.
6/5
States provide information on contact persons to Department of Labor ETA Regional Administrators. States submit narratives to Department of Labor National Office. States not submitting narratives notify DOL National Office.
6/26
States release CY 1991 QC Annual Report.
7/31
Department of Labor publishes notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of QC data.
Action Required. State Administrators are requested to:
a. provide copies of these guidelines to the appropriate staff and
b. ensure that the following information is supplied to ETA Regional Administrators:
- (1) the name, location, and telephone number of a contact person to whom interested parties can write or call with questions or inquiries about the State's annual release of QC data by June 5, 1992;
(2) a copy of the State annual QC data release by June 26, 1992; and
(3) copies of any press releases and/or newspaper articles relating to the Annual Report released by the SESA for CY 1991 by July 7, 1992.
Inquiries. Questions should be directed to the appropriate Regional Office.
Attachments.
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Annual Report Format and Footnotes
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State QC Sample Selection by Batch for CY 1991 (by hard copy only)
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Annual Report Narrative Format and Preparation
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Format for QC Annual Report Supplemental Data
Attachment 1: Annual Report Format and Footnotes
Official attachment: https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl92/uipl_2192a1.pdf
Run as of MM—DD—YY
State of_______________
Unemployment Insurance Quality Control
Annual Report for Calendar Year 1991
Total Dollars Paid in Population $x,xxx,xxx,xxx
Sample Size x,xxx
Percentage 95% Confidence
of Dollars Interval
Proper Payments xx.x% % xx.x%
Overpayments xx.x% % xx.x%
100.0%
Underpayments xx.x% % xx.x%
Footnotes
[See below for an explanation of the footnotes.]
Narrative Comments
[See Attachment 3 for an explanation of the narrative preparation procedures and a sample narrative format.]
BQC Annual Report Footnotes
Footnote 1:
Claimants failing to conduct required work search were given formal warnings and no overpayment was
established. The proper payment rate would be lower and the overpayment rate would be higher if these
cases were counted as erroneous payments.
Condition: Any case with key week action code '14' in fields hi2, hj2, or hk2 of the CY 1991 QC
database.
Footnote 2:
Percentages apply to less than a complete year of UI payments due to the State not pulling a sample for
xx weeks.
Condition: There is no comparison report for one or more QC batches 9101 through 9152. (The CY
1991 summary of State QC sample selection is provided in Attachment 2.)
Footnote 3:
The State selected samples that were below the minimum prescribed levels for xx weeks.
Condition: State selected one or more QC weekly samples below the minimum level prescribed in
Benefits Quality Control State Operations Handbook, ET Handbook 395, chapter III, p. 27. (See CY
1991 summary of State QC sample selection in Attachment 2.)
Footnote 4:
Percentages based on data collection procedures that were not completely in accordance with QC
methodology prescribed in ET Handbook No. 395.
Condition: Based on QC monitoring conducted by the Department of Labor Regional Offices and
National Office.
Footnote 5:
The State completed xx% of the cases within 90 days. The QC program standard is 95% completed
within 90 days.
Condition: State failed to meet case completion objectives established in Benefits Quality Control State
Operations Handbook, ET Handbook 395, chapter VI, p. 6.
Footnote 6:
x.x% of the sample cases were not completed when this report was prepared. This exceeded the QC
program requirement that no more than 2% of the cases for the year remain incomplete.
Condition: Based on the number of QC cases that were not completed (QC supervisor sign-off) by c.o.b.
April 24, 1992, divided by the number of valid cases selected for QC weekly samples during CY 1991
(QC batches 9101 through 9152). Note: Reporting the number of sample cases that were not completed
is a generally accepted procedure in reporting the results of a statistical survey.
Footnote 7:
The annual sample for [State] is [#] cases below the allocated annual sample for the State. The precision
of the data might be reduced due to the failure to sample at the prescribed level.
Condition: The State's annual sample selection is 50 or more cases (one-half staff year) below its
allocated annual sample.
Footnote 8:
The population from which the QC sample was selected did not include all of the UI benefits paid. This
limits the degree to which inferences about the population can be made from QC data.
Condition: The dollars paid in the QC population for CY 1991 vary from the dollars paid reported in the
State's ETA 5159 Claims and Payment Activities reports by more than the statistical control limit.
Attachment 2: State QC Sample Selection by Batch for CY 1991
Official title-page PDF: https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl92/uipl_2192a2.pdf
The Department's archive labels this 1991 state-by-state sample-selection summary “by hard copy only.” Its linked PDF contains the title page but no table; the historical state counts are therefore absent from this transcription.
Attachment 3: Annual Report Narrative Format and Preparation
Official attachment: https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl92/uipl_2192a3.pdf
BQC Annual Report Narrative Preparation
Since all QC units have WordPerfect 4.2 software on their Artecon System, the Department prefers that each
State use that software to prepare its narrative and submit the narrative electronically. Prepare the narrative
using the WordPerfect software as you would with any other document. When the narrative is complete, press
2> then <F11> to select the Text In/Out option. Select option 1 (Save-UNIX Text File Format). Name the
narrative using the following convention: NARR plus the extension of the State's FIPS Postal abbreviation. For
example, Rhode Island's narrative should be identified as NARR.RI, Florida's as NARR.FL, etc. This does not
transmit the narrative to the National Office but simply saves the document in a format ready for transfer. The
transmission instructions are described below. Before exiting WordPerfect be sure to save the document in
WordPerfect format by giving the document a different name.
If it is not possible to submit the narrative electronically, the narrative may be submitted on paper. Paper
transmittals must be submitted on 8 1/2" x 11" white bond (at least 20# weight), using letter quality printing that
can be successfully photocopied. The narrative must not exceed two single-spaced pages.
Using either method of submittal, the following format is required:
Margins — One inch all around
Title — "ANNUAL REPORT NARRATIVE" typed in capital letters, and centered
Subtitle — "STATE NAME" typed in capital letters, and centered on the line below
the title
Date — "CY 1991" centered on line below the subtitle
Font — Courier 10
Paging — "STATE POSTAL CODE-Page #" right justified one inch from the bottom of the
page (e.g., AK-1 for Alaska)
Spacing — The text should follow three lines below the subtitle and end with a maximum
length of three lines above the page number. Use six lines per inch.
State narratives must be received in the National Office no later than June 5, 1992. To send the UNIX text file to
the National Office, at the Artecon prompt, type:
mail uis6!suem < NARR. name
Substitute your State document name, e.g. NARR.RI, for the NARR.name in the above expression. Note also
the positions of single spaces in the expression—between suem and < and between < and NARR.name. For help
with this process, call the QC Hotline on 1-800-473-0188.
Paper transmittals should be sent to the attention of Susan Makara at:
U. S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Ave., NW
Attn: TEUQS, Room S-4015
Washington, DC 20210
If the State does not plan to submit a narrative, the State should notify the National Office at the above address
or electronically by June 5, 1992, that no narrative will be submitted.
ANNUAL REPORT NARRATIVE
ALASKA
CY 1991
text begins here
text ends here AK-1
Attachment 4: Format for QC Annual Report Supplemental Data
Official attachment: https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl92/uipl_2192a4.pdf
QC ANNUAL REPORT
Supplemental Data
CY 1991
Responsibility for Overpayments (Percent of Dollars Overpaid)
Claimant Only xx.x
Employer Only xx.x
Agency Only xx.x
Claimant + Employer xx.x
Claimant + Agency xx.x
Employer + Agency xx.x
Claimant + Employer + Agency xx.x
Other Only xx.x
Claimant + Other xx.x
Employer + Other xx.x
Agency + Other xx.x
Claimant + Employer + Other xx.x
Claimant + Agency + Other xx.x
Employer + Agency + Other xx.x
Claimant + Empl. + Agy. + Oth. xx.x
Responsibility Not Specified xx.x
Cause of Overpayments (Percent of Dollars Overpaid)
Benefit Year Earnings Issues xx.x
Base Period Wage Issues xx.x
Separation Issues xx.x
Work Search Issues xx.x
Other Eligibility Issues xx.x
Other Issues xx.x
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