Unemployment Insurance Benefits

• Federal and state governments provide unemployment insurance benefits to those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. You have to meet certain eligibility criteria to collect benefits and each state sets its own standards.
  
  

Regular Unemployment Benefits

• Generally, you are allowed to collect regular unemployment benefits for 26 weeks through state programs. After regular unemployment benefits are exhausted, federal benefits may be available if unemployment rates exceed certain thresholds determined by Congress.
  
  

Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC)

• After you exhaust regular, state-funded unemployment benefits, you may be eligible for EUC. EUC is a federally funded unemployment program started on June 30, 2008. Depending on your state's unemployment rate, EUC benefits can last for up to 33 weeks, consisting of two tiers, 20 and 13 weeks.
  
  

Extended Benefits

• Depending on your state unemployment rate, you may be eligible for up to 20 weeks of extended benefits after you have exhausted regular and EUC benefits. Each state sets its own rules for eligibility and not all filers will be eligible to collect extended benefits.
  
  On Sept, 22, 2009, the House of Representatives approved an additional 13 weeks of extended benefits for states with unemployment rates above 8.5 percent, but the Senate, as of Oct. 13, 2009, has yet to approve an extension.
  
  

Total Weeks of Unemployment Compensation

• Depending on your state's unemployment rate and the date you begin collecting unemployment, you may be eligible to collect unemployment benefits from 46 to 79 weeks.
  
  As an example, in New York state, you can collect unemployment benefits for up to 79 weeks:
  
  State (regular) unemployment benefits: 26 weeks
  
  Emergency Unemployment Compensation: Up to 33 weeks.
  
  Extended Unemployment: 20 weeks
  
  According to a New York State Department of Labor representative, New Yorkers who started collecting benefits during the period May 2007 through approximately March 2009 could collect up to 79 weeks of benefits, but only 26 weeks of benefits are available for those who began collecting benefits after March 2009.
  
  Contact your state unemployment office for complete details about the benefits available to you.
  
  

Disaster Unemployment Insurance

• If the president of the United States declares a location a disaster area, unemployment insurance benefits may be available for up to 26 weeks if job loss or job interruption is the result of the declared disaster. These benefits may be also available for the self-employed.
  
  

Trade Readjustment Allowances

• Under certain conditions, you may collect unemployment if you lost your job or your hours were reduced as a result of foreign import competition. Weekly trade readjustment allowance (TRA) payments become effective after you exhaust all other unemployment compensation. Additional TRA benefits include paid training, job search assistance and other benefits. You can collect unemployment and TRA benefits for up to 130 weeks. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded the eligibility of Trade Readjustment Allowances to service workers.