NYS Department of Labor employer contributions - how much do employers pay into unemployment?
I'm trying to understand how the unemployment system works in New York. My employer laid me off last month and I'm wondering how much they actually paid into the system for my benefits. Does anyone know the current rates that NYS Department of Labor charges employers? I heard it varies based on the company's layoff history but I'm not sure how that works. Just curious about the mechanics since I'm dealing with my claim now.
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Omar Mahmoud
NYS Department of Labor uses what's called an experience rating system. Employers pay different rates based on their history of layoffs. New employers start at around 4.1% on the first $12,300 of each employee's wages in 2025. Companies with more layoffs pay higher rates, up to about 9.9%. Companies with stable employment histories can get rates as low as 0.6%.
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Freya Nielsen
•That's really helpful! So my old company probably pays more since they've had multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years. Does this affect my benefits at all or just what they pay?
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Chloe Harris
your benefits aren't affected by what your employer pays. the weekly amount is based on your wages not their contribution rate. but yeah companies that lay people off a lot definitely pay more into the system
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Diego Vargas
There's also a State Unemployment Tax (SUT) and Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) that employers pay. The federal rate is 6% but most employers get a credit that brings it down to 0.6% on the first $7,000 of wages. The NYS Department of Labor handles the state portion which funds most of your benefits. If you're having trouble with your claim status, I had success using Claimyr to actually get through to a NYS Department of Labor agent. Check out claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works.
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NeonNinja
•Wait is that like a paid service? I've been trying to call NYS Department of Labor for weeks about my adjudication status with no luck.
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Diego Vargas
•Yeah it costs something but honestly it was worth it for me. I was stuck in adjudication for over a month and got through to an actual person in like 20 minutes. They explained exactly what was holding up my claim.
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Anastasia Popov
The whole system is set up to make employers think twice before laying people off since their rates go up. But companies still do it anyway when they want to cut costs. At least we get some benefits out of it even though the weekly amounts are pretty low compared to what we were making.
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Sean Murphy
My brother works in HR and he says their company pays like $800 per employee per year into unemployment on average. Seems like a lot but I guess it adds up when you consider all the people collecting benefits. The NYS Department of Labor definitely doesn't make it easy to understand how any of this works though.
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Omar Mahmoud
•That sounds about right for a mid-range employer rate. The exact amount depends on the wage base and their experience rating, but $800 annually per employee is a reasonable estimate for many companies in New York.
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Grant Vikers
Just wanted to add that the NYS Department of Labor also adjusts these rates annually based on the overall health of the unemployment fund. In years when there are more claims (like during economic downturns), the rates can increase across the board. The taxable wage base also changes - it was $12,300 in 2025 but gets adjusted for inflation. One thing that surprised me when I was researching this is that employers can't pass these costs directly to employees - it's entirely employer-funded, which is different from other payroll taxes where costs are sometimes shared.
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