During the Covid pandemic, Unemployment Insurance (UI) was a lifeline to more than 850,000 Minnesotans and their families who experienced unemployment. We delivered nearly $15 billion in benefits through the first eighteen months of the pandemic – benefits that helped pay rent, keep food on the table, and support families through an unprecedented economic challenge. 

The mission of the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is to empower the growth of the Minnesota economy, for everyone. One way we can best fulfill that mission is by ensuring all Minnesotans can easily access critical state services. 

To that end, I’m excited to share that this week, DEED’s UI team has rolled out significant upgrades to our UI self-service online application. This included making the site mobile-responsive – a much-needed upgrade when over 80% of Minnesotans apply for UI benefits on a mobile device. No more pinching and zooming when you’re on your smartphone. 

Our UI team also worked to ensure the most common application pages are now available in four languages – English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish. Previously, these pages were only available in English. This is a significant improvement for accessibility and allows more Minnesotans to get information on their terms. 

By the numbers 

• More than 80 percent of Minnesotans apply for or request UI benefits on a mobile device 
• The UI application is now available in 4 languages: English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish 
• We re-did 5,700 pages to make them responsive and to incorporate multiple languages (and since each original page had to be re-done in English and then 3 more languages, we created 22,800 new web pages) 
• There were 115,000 separate English words and phrases that needed to be translated 

This upgrade is a really exciting step to improve the experience for all UI users, but we’re not finished. Modern digital services – in government as well as in the private sector – should see constant innovation, investment, and evolution to ensure we’re meeting the needs of our customers. This upgrade will also make future usability enhancements easier, and we’ll continue to improve the UI system – and many other DEED systems – to better serve the people of Minnesota.