Labor Department Proposes Five-Activity Minimum for Unemployment Benefits

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed requiring people seeking unemployment benefits to document at least five job-search activities each week, adding a federal baseline to state-run programs.

Under the proposal, a claimant would need five qualifying activities for each week claimed, meet a five-point threshold under a state’s points-based system or satisfy specified equivalent labor-force attachment criteria. Claimants would submit details of their activities before payment. Federal law already requires states to condition benefits on claimants being able, available and actively seeking work; the proposal would add a numerical minimum to rules that vary by state.

States would have to count employer contacts such as applications and interviews, registration with and ongoing contact with placement agencies, and union job referrals. They could also recognize job fairs, career services, workshops, training, professional assessments and other activities reasonably likely to lead to reemployment.

State requirements varied as of Jan. 1, 2025. Nearly half of states generally required three activities a week; a few required four or five, some required two, and the rest required one. If the proposal is finalized, states would have one year from the final rule’s effective date to comply. The proposal has not taken effect, and its effective date is not set.

An illustrative calculation puts the annual reduction in unemployment-compensation payments at $6.445 billion to $7.272 billion. It adjusts per-person results from a 1986-87 Washington state work-search experiment to 2025 dollars, then applies them to 5.3 million regular unemployment-insurance beneficiaries in 2025. The estimate could reflect claimants returning to work sooner, losing eligibility for weeks when they do not meet the requirement, or both; it is illustrative, not a measured outcome of the rule.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said, “This proposed rule helps jobseekers find work faster and ensures efficient use of taxpayer resources while improving the overall integrity of our unemployment system.”

Two million people had been unemployed for at least 27 weeks in October, representing 27.6% of all unemployed people; the overall unemployment rate was 4.1%. The department announced the proposal Nov. 9, and the proposed rule was published Nov. 10. Public comments are due Jan. 11, 2027.