How much can you get unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor in 2025?
I'm trying to figure out what my weekly unemployment benefit amount would be if I lose my job. I've been working at a restaurant making about $52,000 a year for the past 18 months. Does anyone know how NYS Department of Labor calculates the weekly benefit amount? I heard it's based on your earnings but I can't find clear info on their website about the actual dollar amounts you can receive.
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Dylan Baskin
NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit rate using your highest quarter earnings from your base period. For 2025, the maximum weekly benefit is $504. They take your highest quarter earnings, divide by 26, then you get half of that amount up to the maximum. So if you made $26,208 in your highest quarter, you'd get the max $504 per week.
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Hunter Brighton
•Thanks! So with my salary that would put me around $13,000 per quarter which means I'd get about $250 per week? That's lower than I hoped but better than nothing.
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Lauren Wood
wait i thought the max was like $420 or something?? when did it go up to $504
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Ellie Lopez
•The maximum gets adjusted each year. It was $504 for 2024 and remains the same for 2025. You can verify this on the my.ny.gov portal under benefit information.
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Chad Winthrope
I've been trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks to ask this exact question about my benefit calculation! Their phone lines are always busy and the online chat never works. It's so frustrating when you just need a simple answer about your potential benefits.
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Paige Cantoni
•I had the same problem until I found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com. They actually get you through to a real NYS Department of Labor agent on the phone. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of busy signals and I got my benefit amount question answered in like 10 minutes.
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Chad Winthrope
•Really? That sounds too good to be true but at this point I'm desperate. Did they charge you a lot for it?
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Paige Cantoni
•It was worth it just to avoid the headache of calling over and over. Much easier than spending days trying to get through myself.
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Kylo Ren
Also remember you can get benefits for up to 26 weeks typically, unless there's extended benefits available. And you have to do the job search requirements - 3 work search activities per week minimum.
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Nina Fitzgerald
The whole system is ridiculous honestly. They make it so hard to find basic information like this. Why can't they just have a simple calculator on their website??
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Lauren Wood
•RIGHT?? like every other state has benefit calculators but NYS Department of Labor acts like it's some big secret
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