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Unemployment Benefits: How Much Does Unemployment Pay?
How much does unemployment pay? – The answer depends on a lot of factors. Throughout the year, many people lose their jobs and face unemployment. However, the state pays unemployed workers who have lost jobs due to retrenchment or layoffs. The goal here is to provide a source of income to the jobless in society until those people find another income source.
In this article, you will learn about unemployment benefits in general and the level of payments a person receives at the time of unemployment. Furthermore, we will also discuss the criteria that one must meet to get unemployment compensation. Hence, to find out more about unemployment payments read on through to the end of the article.
What Are Unemployment Benefits?
On a person?s unemployment, the state pays some compensation, which is also called an unemployment benefit or unemployment compensation. According to Investopedia,
?It is meant to provide a source of income for jobless workers until they can find employment. In order to be eligible for unemployment compensation, specific criteria must be satisfied, such as having worked for a minimum stipulated period and actively looking for a job.?
The state offers unemployment compensation with the use of an unemployment check or a direct deposit. The offering helps to provide a partial replacement of income for a particular time length. This goes on for a certain amount of time or until the worker finds another job, whichever is more suitable.
Many developed and developing economies pay unemployment benefits to people who have received unemployment due to a reason which was not their fault. In the United States, the unemployment benefits system is managed jointly by the State government of a given state and the Federal government. The funds are managed from federal payroll taxes from the employers.
Who Are Eligible For Unemployment Benefits?
Unemployment benefits are for those people that have lost their jobs for a reason which was not their fault. The reason can be lay-off from a company, or the company?s shutdown, or anything else. In other cases, if some employees have to work a reduced amount of hours against their wishes, they are also eligible for unemployment benefits.
People who have not got a job yet, are not eligible for receiving unemployment benefits. However, the amount of benefit one can get is defined differently from state to state. Hence, students who are still studying and working are not eligible to get unemployment benefits.
For example, as per the data given in Investopedia –
?To be eligible in New York, for example, you must have worked and been paid wages in two calendar quarters, been paid at least $2,600 in one calendar quarter, and the total wages paid to you must be at least 1.5 times the amount paid to you in your high quarter. The minimum benefit is $104 per week, and the maximum benefit is $504 per week.?
How Much Does Unemployment Pay?
The unemployment benefit that a person can get is calculated as a percentage of the average that the person gets as pay over a recent period of fifty-two weeks. However, the pay of the unemployment benefit varies by state.
Despite that, the amount of benefit that you are eligible for is calculated based on the percentage of your total wages during a certain time period. This time period is called the based period. The base period of two different states in the US can vary. However, in general cases, the term is four consecutive (and completed) calendar year quarters, which is fifty-two weeks (mostly).
Different states provide different unemployment rate calculators on their websites. However, if you cannot find the calculator of your state on the internet, you can still get an estimate of the unemployment payment of the state. You must find out what percentage of your base pay that your state will match.
As per the information on unemployment benefits from Nolo.com,
?All states also set an upper limit on the total weekly benefit amount. A common formula is to pay half of what the employee used to earn, up to a cap that’s tied to the average earnings in that state. This means that employees with higher wages may receive a larger overall benefits check, but a smaller percentage of what they used to earn.?
The amount of money that you have earned from your lost job and the weekly benefit amount that you can receive can be the maximum weekly benefit of the state. This amount, too, varies from state to state in the country.
What Is The Duration Of Unemployment Benefits?
According to CreditKarma.com,
?Unemployment benefits provide temporary financial assistance for people who have lost their jobs. But the weekly benefit amount you might receive depends on the state where you filed for unemployment and how much money you made before becoming unemployed.?
The state governments, in most cases, pay the benefits to the unemployed person. The fund of the payment comes from the state and federal payroll taxes that employers pay. Most of the states in the United States offer benefits for a time of 26 weeks.
However, this value, too, rises and decreases from state to state. In some cases, it is 12, while in some cases, it is 30. In periods of high unemployment, extensions are possible in some states.
Wrapping Up
How much does unemployment pay? – Hope you have found the answer to this question. You can see here that unemployment benefits depend upon certain criteria, provided you have lost your job due to a reason which was not your fault. An example of such type of unemployment is a situation where the company lays off some employees or the business is closed.
In most cases, unemployment compensation is paid with the help of an unemployment check or through the use of a direct deposit. However, every state has its own requirements that the person needs to fulfill to get unemployment benefits. Can you suggest some better ways of providing unemployment benefits? Share your ideas with us in the comments section below.
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