How much is your unemployment check from NYS Department of Labor?
I just got approved for unemployment benefits and I'm trying to figure out what to expect for my weekly payments. My last job paid me $52,000 a year working full time at a marketing firm in Albany. I know NYS Department of Labor calculates benefits based on your earnings but I can't find a clear breakdown of exactly how much my weekly check will be. Has anyone been through this recently? What percentage of your old salary did you end up getting? I'm trying to budget for the next few months while I job search.
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Mia Alvarez
NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit rate based on your earnings in your base period, which is typically the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed. The maximum weekly benefit amount for 2025 is $504. Your rate will be roughly 50% of your average weekly wage during your base period, but it's capped at that maximum. You can check your exact amount by logging into your my.ny.gov account.
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Zachary Hughes
•Thanks! I checked my account and it shows $387 per week. That's actually higher than I expected based on what I was making.
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Carter Holmes
i get like $320 a week, was making about 45k before i got laid off from my warehouse job. not great but better than nothing i guess
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Sophia Long
The calculation can be confusing but it's based on your highest earning quarter in your base period. If you had overtime or bonuses during that time, it could boost your weekly rate. Just remember you'll need to file your weekly claims every week and keep doing your job search activities to keep getting payments.
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Zachary Hughes
•Good point about the job search requirements. How many contacts do I need to make each week?
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Sophia Long
•You need to make at least 3 work search contacts per week and keep a log of all your activities. NYS Department of Labor can audit this so keep good records.
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Angelica Smith
Getting through to NYS Department of Labor on the phone to ask questions about your benefit amount can be really frustrating with their call volume. I was stuck trying to reach them for days until I found Claimyr - it's a service that helps you get connected to actual agents. Check out claimyr.com and they have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Made it so much easier to get my questions answered about my weekly benefit calculation.
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Logan Greenburg
•Interesting, never heard of that service before. Did they charge you anything to help with the call?
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Angelica Smith
•They focus on the value of getting through rather than the cost. For me it was worth it just to avoid sitting on hold for hours.
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Yara Elias
Just wanted to share my experience - I was making around $48k at a retail management job and my weekly benefit came out to $368. The process took about 3 weeks from filing to getting my first payment, but once it started it's been pretty consistent. One thing that helped me was setting up direct deposit right away instead of waiting for the debit card - payments hit my account faster that way. Also make sure you certify for benefits every week on time, even if there are technical issues with the website. You can always call to certify if the online system is down.
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Anastasia Romanov
•That's really helpful advice about the direct deposit! I'm still waiting for my debit card to arrive but I didn't know I could set up direct deposit instead. How do you do that - is it through the my.ny.gov portal? Also good to know about the timeline, I filed about a week ago so hopefully I'll see my first payment soon.
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