How do they calculate your benefit money for unemployment? Do they take your Year to Date earnings and divide by some number or what?
Best answer:
Answer by Steve D
It depends on your state – each state is different. Call the unemployment office or visit the unemployment office’s website for your state and the benefit calculation should be there.
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The exact rules vary from state to state, but I am not aware of any state using year to date earnings. Most states ignore the current quarter and the quarter before that, and consider the four prior quarters (the quarter that is 5 quarters before the current quarter through the quarter that is 2 quarters before the current quarter). They typically use your earnings for whichever 1 or 2 of those four quarters where when your earnings were highest. They divide the earnings for 1 quarter by 25 or 26 or divide the earnings for 2 quarters by approximately 50. This makes your weekly benefit approximately 1/2 of what you made during an average week during the quarters that they use, or whatever your state’s maximum weekly benefit rate is, whichever is less.
Regardless of which state you live in, you’ll receive a weekly unemployment benefit based on how long you were employed and your prior wages. The state will calculate your average weekly wage, and you will receive a percentage of that wage based on your state’s formula. You can figure out your average weekly wage by adding up 12 months’ worth of pay stubs and dividing that number by 52. If you were salaried, just divide your annual salary by 52.
Length will vary depends on your situation. Usually it last up to 26 weeks..