DOL Self-Employment Assistance

Self-Employment Assistance offers dislocated workers the opportunity for early re-employment. The program is designed to encourage and enable unemployed workers to create their own jobs by starting their own small businesses. Under these programs, States can pay a SEA allowance, instead of regular unemployment insurance benefits, to help unemployed workers while they are establishing businesses and becoming self-employed. Participants receive weekly allowances while they are getting their businesses off the ground.

This is a voluntary program for States and, to date, Delaware, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, and Oregon have active Self-Employment Assistance programs. The State Workforce Agency websites for these states can be accessed at http://www.servicelocator.org/OWSLinks.asp.

More information on the whole program can be found here: https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/self.asp