What percentage is unemployment benefits from my regular salary - NYS Department of Labor calculation?
I'm trying to figure out what percentage of my regular pay I'll get from unemployment benefits. I was making $1,200 per week at my job before I got laid off last month. When I filed my claim with NYS Department of Labor, they said my weekly benefit amount would be $504. I'm not great with math but that seems like less than half of what I was making. Is this the normal percentage for unemployment? I thought it was supposed to be more than that. Can someone explain how they calculate this?
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Angel Campbell
The NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit amount based on your earnings in your base period, which is typically the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters. Your benefit amount is roughly 50% of your average weekly wage during that period, up to the maximum weekly benefit amount. For 2025, the maximum is $504 per week, which is exactly what you're getting. So you were earning enough to hit the maximum.
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TommyKapitz
•Thanks! So $504 is actually the highest amount anyone can get? That makes me feel better about it, I thought they were shortchanging me.
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Payton Black
yeah i got the same amount when i filed last year even though i was making way more than you, its capped at that max amount which kinda sucks but better than nothing i guess
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Harold Oh
The percentage varies depending on your income level. Lower wage earners might get closer to 50% of their regular pay, while higher earners like yourself will get a smaller percentage because of the weekly maximum. Your $504 is about 42% of your $1,200 weekly salary. You can view your exact calculation in your my.ny.gov account under the monetary determination section.
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Amun-Ra Azra
•I've been trying to find that monetary determination in my account but I can't locate it anywhere. Where exactly is it supposed to show up?
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Harold Oh
•Log into my.ny.gov, go to the unemployment services section, then look for 'View Claim Details' or 'Monetary Determination' - it should be listed under your claim documents.
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Summer Green
If you're having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor to get more details about your calculation, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI. I was stuck trying to understand my benefit calculation for weeks before using them.
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TommyKapitz
•Interesting, how does that work exactly? Do they just help you get through the phone lines faster?
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Gael Robinson
The whole system is designed to give you as little as possible while making it confusing AF to understand why. They use all these complicated formulas and base periods when they could just say 'we're giving you the minimum we can get away with legally
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Edward McBride
At least you got approved! I'm still waiting for my claim to get out of adjudication after 5 weeks. $504 sounds pretty good right about now.
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