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Unemployment Insurance Program Specialist

Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Chicago & Philadelphia Regional Offices

Summary

The United States Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration, Chicago and Philadelphia Regional Offices are both recruiting for positions as follows:

Few positions are located in Chicago, IL

Few positions are located in Philadelphia, PA

Both positions are inside the bargaining unit.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
03/30/2026 to 04/08/2026
This job will close when we have received 100 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$98,630 - $130,080 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Locations
Chicago, IL
Few vacancies
Philadelphia, PA
Few vacancies
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None - This position is at the full performance Level (FPL) of GS-12
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
DE-26-DAL-ETA-12920977-KGM
Control number
862915600

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

All US Citizens. Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) eligibles must be in the local commuting area.

Duties

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Duties for this position include:

  • Coordinates unemployment insurance programs within the agency.
  • Manages a grant portfolio within assigned program area(s) and conducts the day-to-day grant management for the grants within the grant portfolio.
  • Performs analyses of grant related data, policy and program issues, and applies problem-solving techniques to address issues.
  • Researches, compiles, and analyzes information and data to use in program administration planning; makes recommendations.
  • Provides technical assistance to grantees to assist them in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the grant by applying problem solving techniques to address deficiencies.
  • Works with grantees to identify potential issues and conducts research on policy guidance and legislation.
  • Reviews policy and guidance for application, and provides related guidance to grantee(s).
  • Communicates Federal and grant award requirements to grantees collaboratively with senior specialists to ensure understanding of grant requirements.
  • Ensures that grantees deliver agreed upon products and services, achieve negotiated performance outcomes, and operate in accordance with programmatic, administrative, and budgetary requirements.
  • Participates in on-site compliance monitoring reviews and Enhanced Desk Monitoring Reviews (EDMRs) of grantees to: evaluate the grantee's progress towards meeting the goals specified in the grant agreement with Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
  • Assess the quality of the program and services; ensure that grant activities are being conducted in compliance with the grant agreement and applicable Federal regulations.
  • Prepares highly complex monitoring reports upon the completion of a monitoring review.
  • Participates in the development of policy guidance and technical assistance resources for ETA grantees and workforce system stakeholders.
  • Engages in on-going communication with grantees in order to establish a good communication protocol.
  • Prepares and delivers presentations to various internal and external audiences on unemployment insurance programs.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen.
  • Must be at least 16 years old.
  • Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
  • Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements for Occupational Series 0106 Unemployment Insurance:

Education

Undergraduate Education:

Major study -- economics, industrial relations, law, sociology, political science, public administration, or other related fields. Courses in statistics or mathematics applicable to the social sciences are creditable up to a maximum of 12 semester hours.

Graduate Education:

Major study -- one or a combination of the social sciences that included social science research methodology and techniques, and provided a knowledge of the history, concepts, methods, and techniques of social insurance and/or the social and economic conditions under which social insurance programs operate.

-OR-

Experience


Specialized Experience:

Experience related to social insurance. This includes experience applying statistics or mathematics to the social insurance field. Specialized experience must have demonstrated:

- A knowledge of current social and economic conditions under which social insurance programs operate, and the principles of Federal/State/local relationships;

- The ability to extend and modify existing techniques and methods or to develop new ones to identify, isolate, and resolve special problems; and

- The ability to develop effective collaborative relationships with personnel in other fields and with groups having conflicting objectives.

Qualifying specialized experience may have been gained through work in the following or similar types of programs: unemployment insurance; old-age and survivors' insurance; workers' compensation; disability compensation; or other public or private programs covering common social insurance risks.

In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements described above, you must have the Specialized Experience described below.

For GS-12 Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level of GS-11 in the Federal Service.

Specialized Experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level.

Qualifying specialized experience for GS-12 includes (Applicants must demonstrate only four(4) of the following):

· Applying knowledge in a variety of UI program areas, including: Adjudication, Claims Intake and Processing, Appeals, UI Budget including Resource Justification Model (RJM) Process, Benefits and Timeliness Quality (BTQ) Programs for Non-monetary Determinations and Appeals, Interstate Benefits and Combined Wage Claims, Tax, Tax Performance Systems (TPS), Data Validation, UI Benefit charging systems and experience rating systems, Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Service members (UCX), Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE), Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA), Integrity, Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA), State Quality Services Plan (SQSP), and Benefit Payment Control (BPC).

· Interpreting legislation, policies, and regulations related to Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs.

· Providing advice on requirements related to Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs.

· Conducting reviews and evaluations of Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs, tax systems, functions, and activities.

· Providing recommendations or conducts briefings to program stakeholders on Unemployment Insurance (UI) guidance and policy.

· Reviewing and analyzing Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs data to assess and improve state performance and inform internal and external stakeholders.

Note: Please be sure these types of examples are evident in your resume.

Education

Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service.

If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

Additional information

Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements. Reference the Required Documents section for additional requirements.

The mission of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to protect the welfare of workers and job seekers, improve working conditions, expand high-quality employment opportunities, and assure work-related benefits and rights for all workers.

Refer to these links for more information: GENERAL INFORMATION, REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS, ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION, FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

As a condition of employment, all personnel must undergo a background investigation for access to DOL facilities, systems, information and/or classified materials before they can enter on duty: BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION

This position is inside the bargaining unit. If the duty location is within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the position will be included in the Local 12, AFGE bargaining unit. If the duty location is outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the position will be included in the NCFLL bargaining unit.

For more information, click Telework Position Information. This is not a remote work position. The selectee will report to an assigned DOL office location on a regular basis and is eligible for participation in telework as determined by management in accordance with DOL policy.

Based on agency needs, additional positions may be filled using this vacancy.

The Department of Labor may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government to attract highly qualified candidates. Click for more information on Pay, Leave, and Workforce Flexibilities.

The Fair Chance Act (FCA) prohibits Federal agencies from requesting an applicant's criminal history information before the agency makes a conditional offer of employment. If you believe a DOL employee has violated your rights under the FCA, you may file a complaint of the alleged violation following our agency's complaint process Guidelines for Reporting Violations of the Fair Chance Act.

Note: The FCA does not apply to some positions specified under the Act, such as law enforcement or national security positions.

All Department of Labor employees are subject to the provisions of the Drug-Free Workplace Program under Executive Order 12564 and Public Law 100-71.

The 2026 OPM Pay Scale with Locality Pay Information can be found here

Salary Range for Chicago, IL Location: $100,059.00-$130,080.00.

Salary Range for Philadelphia, PA Location: $98,630.00-$128,221.00.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your evaluation will be based on how well you meet the qualifications outlined in this vacancy announcement, as demonstrated through your resume and supporting documentation.

Click Application of Veterans Preference for more information.

You may preview application questions for this vacancy here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12920977

If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be evaluated against the evaluation factors below and will be placed into a category based on your vacancy question responses.

Category A - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in applying critical competencies required by this position to work of increased levels of difficulty and complexity.

Category B - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the critical competencies required by this position.

Category C - Meets the specialized experience described in the minimum qualification requirements section of this announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the basic competencies.

Clickhere for Evaluation details.

SME Resume Panel Review

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will review your resume to assess your technical qualifications based on the competencies listed below. Applicants who meet the required qualifications will advance to the next stage of the hiring process.

For each below competency, SME(s) will provide a rating of 0-Not Applicable, 1-Awareness, 2-Basic, 3-Intermediate, 4-Advanced, or 5-Expert based on the content of your resume.

Evaluation Factors (Competencies) - All qualified applicants will be evaluated on the following key competencies:

  • Compliance
  • Legal, Government and Jurisprudence
  • Oral Communication
  • Technical Competence
  • Writing


The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, volunteer, as it demonstrates the competencies or skills required for the position to be filled. Your evaluation may include an interview, reference checks, or other assessment conducted by HR specialists, subject matter experts, or panel members and may include other assessment tools (ex. interview, structured interview, written test, work sample, etc.).

INFORMATION FOR ICTAP/CTAP ELIGIBLE(S) ONLY: If you are eligible for special priority selection under ICTAP/CTAP, you must be well-qualified for the position to receive consideration. ICTAP/CTAP eligible(s) who are Category B or higher will be considered well-qualified. Be sure to review the eligibility questions to reflect that you are applying as an ICTAP or CTAP eligible and submit supporting documentation.

Employment and Training Administration

Begin a challenging career with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and you will help shape the workforce of tomorrow. DOL offers rewarding opportunities to contribute to a noble mission; to serve and protect American workers, prepare them for new and better jobs, and to ensure the safety and fairness of American workplaces.

The Department of Labor values its customers. Every DOL employee is responsible for delivering good customer service through accurate, courteous, efficient, and effective transactions.

The Department of Labor does not make unfavorable hiring decisions on the basis of an applicant's previous or current unemployment, or the fact that an applicant has experienced financial difficulty through no fault of his/her own and has undertaken good faith efforts to meet his/her financial obligations. Consideration is given to financial status in relation to appointments only where required by law, regulation, or Executive Order.

Applicants with disabilities can contact the vacancy point of contact listed on the job vacancy announcement to request reasonable accommodations needed for the application process.

Agency contact information

Kevin Michigan
Phone
972-850-2513
Email
michigan.kevin.g@dol.gov
Address
Employment and Training Administration
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20210
US

Visit our careers page

Learn more about what it's like to work at Employment and Training Administration, what the agency does, and about the types of careers this agency offers.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta

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