Our nation's unemployment insurance (UI) system was created in 1935, at a time when America was reeling from the Depression and government programs were structured around men as the sole support of families and women as stay-at-home homemakers. Up until the 1990s, that system did an excellent job of protecting American workers who lost their jobs.

But the profile of America's workforce has drastically changed in recent years. Today, instead of in manufacturing jobs, more and more workers are in the service sector as part-time employees, often working multiple jobs to make ends meet. The failure of the UI system to reflect current employment trends means that millions of workers who pay into the system fail to qualify for UI benefits when they need them. In the past, more than 50% of the nation's unemployed received UI; today, less than 35% qualify for such benefits.

We clearly have failed to update our unemployment insurance system to keep pace with changes in the U.S. workforce. The UI system has failed to take into account part-time workers and is still directed toward unemployed, full-time workers who have usually been laid off due to economic dislocations. Our current low rate of unemployment provides the ideal opportunity for us to look at employment trends and modernize the UI system. Recently, I proposed H.R. 3708, the Parity for Part-time Workers Act, which would allow unemployed, part-time workers to collect UI when they have earned sufficient past wages to be eligible for such assistance. Currently, unemployed, part-time workers who meet eligibility requirements are prohibited from collecting UI benefits in 31 states, including Maryland, solely because they are seeking part-time, rather than full-time employment.

Both the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, a congressionally appointed panel of experts, and the Committee for Economic Development, an organization of business leaders, support prohibiting discrimination against part-time workers seeking unemployment compensation. Denying UI to part-time workers disproportionally hurts women, who comprise roughly 70% of our nation's part-time workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that approximately 400,000 unemployed workers per year would be able to receive UI benefits if this law is enacted.

But UI reform should also include expanding coverage to workers who take leave to care for a newborn or adopted child. The Department of Labor has proposed allowing states to enact UI programs that would pay workers who are eligible for UI for up to 12 weeks while they take a family leave. The 1993 Family Medical Leave Act allows for unpaid leave under such circumstances, but for millions of lower-income workers unpaid leave is not possible.

The goal is to give states the flexibility they need to make paid family medical leave an option under the UI system. No state would be required to take such a step; they would simply be given the option to decide if they so choose. Without some income replacement, many service-sector workers are forced to leave their jobs to care for a new baby and often end up on public assistance.

UI reform is now possible because most state UI reserves have almost doubled, and are still growing due to sustained low-unemployment rates. In fact, most states are well equipped to pay UI benefits during even the most serious recession.

It's time to update the UI system to serve the needs of our changing workforce. We need to make the UI system more equitable so that more Americans can depend on it when they need it. Our low unemployment rate gives us a golden opportunity to do the right thing for U.S. workers.