Policy Basics: How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available?

The federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) system helps many people who have lost their jobs by temporarily replacing part of their wages. (See “Policy Basics: Unemployment Insurance.”) Under certain circumstances, unemployed workers who exhaust their regular state-funded unemployment benefits before they can find work can receive additional weeks of benefits.

Under the CARES Act responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, all states provide 13 additional weeks of federally funded Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Assistance (PEUC) benefits to people who exhaust their regular state benefits, followed by additional weeks of federally funded EB in states with high unemployment (up to 13 or 20 weeks depending on state laws). Under the Act, through the end of this year, some people who exhaust all these benefits, and many others who have lost their jobs for reasons arising from the pandemic but who are not normally eligible for UI in their state, are eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). Without new legislation, however, no PEUC or PUA benefits will be paid after December 31, 2020.

The map below shows only the maximum number of weeks of regular plus EB benefits that are currently available in each state. It does not include the weeks of benefits that the pandemic-specific programs can add through the end of the year.

Of the states not providing the standard 26-week maximum:

• Massachusetts provides up to 30 weeks of UI except when a federal extended benefits program is in place (as it is now) or in periods of low unemployment (as was the case through February), when the maximum drops to 26 weeks;
• Montana provides up to 28 weeks of UI;
• Michigan normally provides up to 20 weeks of UI, but in the COVID-19 emergency that has risen to 26 weeks;
• South Carolina and Missouri provide up to 20 weeks of UI; and
• Arkansas provides up to 16 weeks of regular benefits.

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The remaining six states periodically update their maximum weeks of UI available based on changes in the state’s unemployment rate:

• Idaho currently provides up to 22 weeks for new enrollees (down from 26) due to a drop in its unemployment rate in August
• Kansas was providing 16 weeks of UI before COVID-19, but that has been extended to 26 weeks through April 2021;
• Alabama currently provides up to 14 weeks of UI for new enrollees, with an additional five-week extension for those enrolled in a state-approved training program;
• Georgia was providing 14 weeks of UI, but in the COVID-19 emergency that has risen to 26 weeks;
• Florida currently provides up to 12 weeks of UI; and
• North Carolina currently provides up to 12 weeks of UI.

The table below shows the latest three-month average unemployment rate for each state over July–September 2020, as well as the maximum number of weeks of benefits currently available through regular UI and EB. The number of weeks of EB in a state equals the smaller of 13 weeks or half the maximum number of weeks of regular UI in the state, unless the state has adopted an alternative trigger that adds up to seven more weeks when the state’s unemployment rate triggers on a High Unemployment Period (HUP) allowing up to 20 weeks of EB (but no more than 80 percent of the number of regular weeks the state provides). Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington are now in a HUP.