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Unemployment Benefits: What will Each Person Get?

Unemployment Benefits: What will Each Person Get?

All employees that were fired through whatever means except their own fault qualify for unemployment insurance – a joint program between the federal and state government that gives temporary payments. With the effect of the Coronavirus on the economy, a high number of workers have been out of work, and many jobs are unavailable. In a bid to cushion the effect of these harsh economic effects, a law from the federal government added a slight temporal increase to the unemployment benefit. 


Coronavirus and Unemployment Impact of The CARES Act

More than  3 million people requested unemployment benefits, thanks to Coronavirus. This led to the release of 2 trillion USD as a stimulus package in 2020. This was called the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security), made available direct money transfer to qualified and made the unemployment benefit available to more people. 

Here are the highlights of the new law:

  • Each qualifying kid got a cash payment of funds transfer of $1,200 and an extra 500 USD for each kid at and under age 16.

  • An extra 600 USD per week alongside all unemployment benefit gotten from the state through to July 31

  • 13 weeks of unemployment benefits alongside any provision from the state for 39 weeks. Gig workers and unemployment benefit also got such benefit

People who were out of the job or had their work hours reduced due to Coronavirus might qualify for unemployment benefits. Also, people that cannot work due to self-isolation or quarantine, people with a family member who has the virus, or people that could not work because they are taking care of a kid whose school is close do qualify. 


Amount of Unemployment Benefits 

The idea behind the unemployment benefit is to provide a slight replacement for lost wages. As a result, the exact unemployment benefit value that one gets depends on the previous earning amount. However, this is a value of the state as they use a different approach to calculate it. However, previous earnings were primal to the calculations, although some consider the wages when the employee had the highest profits. 

Also, there is an upper threshold set by all states on the entire benefit amount that each worker can earn weekly. A common approach is to pay half of the employee's earning until a limit applies to the state's average earning. The implication of this is that workers with higher wages might get a substantial overall benefit as their check, even though this corresponds to a small percentage of their regular earnings. The maximum earnable amount for each employee differs significantly with each state. 

Some states give extra benefit amounts to employees that have dependents. While this amount might be small, the value is 25 USD or less for each dependent each week alongside the other benefits. 

One needs to note that unemployment benefits can be taxed. There is a provision to opt for withholding 10% of the benefit as taxes for federal income. 

People who earn other income while on unemployment benefits might not get the full unemployment benefit value. Getting a new job, without a doubt, disqualifies one from filing for unemployment. For instance, someone that got a temporary position for two or three days must report the income even during the unemployment period. These earnings must be reported to the state's unemployment agency that will decide if there should be a reduction in the unemployment benefit to reflect the payments. 

Anyone that qualifies for unemployment benefit will get a notice from the state's insurance department of the state (unemployment), which will reflect how much to expect every week. 

The unemployment department of the state has more information on the benefit amount of each state. You can get in touch with them for details on what to expect. 


Duration of Benefits

The duration of the unemployment benefit In most states is half a year in an ideal economic situation. 


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Elliot Kravitz, ATP
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