Unemployment Benefits: What Americans Need to Know About Their State’s Policies

Unemployed Americans can benefit from the federal-state unemployment insurance system by receiving temporary salary replacements, and some may be eligible for additional weeks of payments if they run out of their usual state-funded unemployment benefits before finding work.

All states had access to federal funding through the CARES Act, allowing them to offer additional weeks of pandemic emergency unemployment benefits (PEUC) and pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by MARCA on February 16, 2023. However, the benefits scheme and other pandemic-related emergency unemployment insurance programs ended on a national level in September 2021, although some states stopped disbursing these federal benefits earlier.

The length of unemployment benefits provided to citizens depends on the state where they reside. Massachusetts and Montana offer more than the usual 26-week maximum, with Massachusetts increasing the maximum number of weeks to 30 when the twelve-month average unemployment rate for each of the Commonwealth’s measured metropolitan areas is above 5.1%.

On the other hand, Arkansas, Iowa, and Oklahoma offer a maximum of 16 weeks of benefits, while Michigan, South Carolina, and Missouri provide eligible applicants with up to 20 weeks of UI. Therefore, the length of unemployment benefits provided to citizens depends on the state’s policies and monthly unemployment rate.