Traer Library Director Diane Panfil (right) pictured on March 17 in the library’s community room with Samuel Ibarra (left) and Maria Morales (center) from the Marshalltown IowaWORKS office following a library program designed to detail recent changes made to Iowa’s unemployment insurance system. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

As Iowa continues to struggle with a workforce shortage, an informational program was held on March 17 at Traer Public Library to discuss a change made in early January that affects how Iowans file for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. The change has been billed as a way to better connect those who seek employment in Iowa with those who need workers.

The January change to Iowa’s unemployment system is just the latest in a long line of changes that have been enacted over the last 10 years to the system beginning in 2012 when then-Gov. Terry Branstad closed more than two-thirds of the Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) field offices in the state.

Maria Morales and Samuel Ibarra from the Marshalltown IowaWORKS office – which serves Tama County – spent roughly an hour on the afternoon of March 17 going over the changes with Traer Public Library Director Diane Panfil who was the only person in attendance for the program.

Since the 2012 field office closures, many of Iowa’s librarians – particularly those in rural areas – have been filling the field office void by assisting local residents with UI questions and even helping with the process of filing claims.

Although Panfil has not yet encountered any UI related questions since taking over as the library director over a year ago, she expressed a desire to learn about the recent changes in the event such assistance is needed by a library patron in the future.

One of the most important takeaways from Morales’s and Ibarra’s presentation seemed to be their mantra, ‘two different systems, three-step process.’

“The biggest change in unemployment is the way [claimants] file their weekly claims.” Ibarra said. “Before January, they used to do two job contacts per week … that changed to four job contacts.”

Three of those job contacts – also called reemployment activities – are required to be job applications.

What has not changed for those applying for or receiving UI benefits in Iowa is the requirement to file a weekly claim for such benefits – filing that is done through an online system — but the process itself now requires two separate logins using two different online systems.

Previously, a claimant would log in to one system, answer six to seven questions, and that was it, Ibarra said, but now a claimant must first log in to IowaWorks.gov to enter their job contacts for the week (step one) and then certify those contacts (step two), after which the claimant will then log in to Iowaworkforcedevelopment.gov to file their weekly claim/benefits (step three).

“So again, two different systems. Three step process,” Ibarra said.

A process that must be repeated once a week, preferably on Sunday evening, Ibarra said.

Those who are a member of a union are not affected by the recent changes.

Workers who are on a temporary layoff, however – perhaps from a construction company, as an example – are affected by the recent changes.

“After the fourth week, they will need to start looking for jobs in order to keep getting their unemployment benefits,” Ibarra said, but the claimant is allowed to turn down job offers if the new company is not offering a job for only those months they have been laid off.

Another change involves accepting jobs outside a claimant’s career field – for the first five weeks of receiving UI benefits, a claimant is allowed to turn down any job offer that is below their previous wage/rate.

After five weeks, however, a claimant must accept any job offer they receive no matter the pay or risk losing unemployment benefits.

The maximum amount of time a claimant can receive UI benefits in Iowa is currently 26 weeks or when the balance is depleted – whichever comes first.

“Our end of the day goal,” Morales said, “is for them to not even need those 16 weeks or 26 weeks [of UI benefits] because we want them to get a job sooner. That way they don’t dip into unemployment for so long and they’ll find a job that makes more money than what they receive in unemployment every week.

“And [Iowa’s] unemployment rate will go down.”

By visiting or calling the Marshalltown IowaWORKS center, a UI claimant can receive help with career exploration, attend workshops that can count as one job contact per week, and receive one-on-one assistance in filing an unemployment claim.

Morales believes the recent UI system changes are a win-win for everyone, but she does understand when UI claimants become frustrated.

“I know that right now that job-seekers see this as ‘oh, they don’t want to pay unemployment anymore’ … ‘it’s not fair for me, I’ve never applied for unemployment in 20 years and now they’re making it so difficult for me’ – that’s not our intention,” Morales said. “We really want to help [claimants].”

Ibarra has witnessed some frustration from claimants as well.

“When I was working as a career planner [for IowaWORKS,” Ibarra said, “we had people say ‘this is too much’ … it’s a program that is offered to them, it’s voluntary … if they don’t want to meet the requirements, they’re not going to be getting any benefits.”

Prior to the January changes, Morales said many UI claimants did not use IowaWORKS services because it wasn’t necessarily required – now that it is required, UI claimants are taking advantage of the help in locating and securing work.

“Yes, we’ve seen some [claimants] that are upset, but we’ve also seen a lot of success stories as well,” Morales said.

The Marshalltown IowaWORKS Center serves those in Hardin, Marshall, Poweshiek and Tama counties, but a UI claimant may access services at any Iowa field office.

For help with filing an initial UI benefit claim or with a continuing claim, the Marshalltown office can be reached at 641-754-1400. Traer Public Library Director Diane Panfil is also able to answer basic UI benefit questions and facilitate accessing Iowa’s UI online systems. The library – which is open Monday through Saturday – is located at 531 Second Street in downtown Traer.