When does the unemployment increase start - NYS Department of Labor benefit changes 2025?

The unemployment benefit increases usually happen at the beginning of each calendar year, but NYS Department of Labor doesn't always communicate it clearly. Check your my.ny.gov account under benefit history - sometimes the new rate shows up there before they send official notices. The increase is typically automatic based on the state's average weekly wage calculations.

i think mine went up like $15 last week but wasnt sure if that was the increase everyone was talking about?? didnt get any notice from NYS Department of Labor about it

I've been trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks about this exact question and can never reach anyone! The phone lines are always busy and when I do get through I get disconnected. I found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that actually got me connected to a real person at NYS Department of Labor in like 20 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Might be worth checking out if you need to talk to someone directly about your benefit amount.

The whole system is so confusing! I wish NYS Department of Labor would just send clear emails when changes happen instead of making us hunt around for information.

Just to clarify for anyone reading this - the unemployment benefit increase is automatic and applies to new claims filed after the effective date, plus existing claims get adjusted. You don't need to refile or do anything special. The 2025 maximum weekly benefit rate went into effect January 1st, so if you're still seeing your old amount, it might take a few processing cycles to show up in your payments.

I'm in the same boat as you @Rajiv Kumar - been getting the same weekly amount for months and starting to wonder if I missed something! Reading through these responses is super helpful. I'm going to check my my.ny.gov account right now to see if there's any change in my payment history that I didn't notice. It's frustrating that NYS Department of Labor doesn't send out clear notifications about these increases. You'd think they'd want people to know when their benefits are going up! Has anyone else noticed if there's usually a delay between when the increase is supposed to take effect and when it actually shows up in your payments?

Just wanted to share my experience - I was in the exact same situation and finally got some clarity! I called the NYS Department of Labor yesterday (took forever to get through) and they confirmed that the 2025 increase is automatic and should show up within 2-3 weeks of the effective date. The representative told me that sometimes there are processing delays, especially if you have any holds or issues on your account. She suggested checking the "Benefit Rate Information" section in my.ny.gov rather than just looking at recent payments, since that's where the updated rate appears first. If it's been more than 3 weeks since January 1st and you still don't see an increase, that's when you should definitely call to make sure there isn't a technical issue with your claim.

Thanks for posting this question @Rajiv Kumar - I was literally wondering the same thing! I've been on unemployment since November 2024 and my weekly amount has stayed exactly the same. After reading through all these responses, I just logged into my my.ny.gov account and checked the "Benefit Rate Information" section that @NebulaNova mentioned. Sure enough, there's an updated rate there that's about $18 higher than what I've been receiving! It looks like it was updated in early January but somehow my actual payments haven't reflected the change yet. I'm definitely going to call NYS Department of Labor tomorrow to ask about the retroactive payment since it's been over a month now. This thread has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea to look in that specific section rather than just my payment history. Really wish they would send some kind of notification when these increases happen instead of making us play detective!

This thread is exactly what I needed! I've been getting unemployment since October 2024 and noticed my weekly amount hasn't changed at all. After reading everyone's experiences, I just checked my my.ny.gov account in the "Benefit Rate Information" section and found there's actually been an updated rate since January showing about $20 more per week than what I've been receiving. It's crazy that NYS Department of Labor doesn't send any notification about these updates - I had no idea this section even existed! I'm going to call them this week to ask about getting the retroactive payments since it's been over 6 weeks now. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and specific steps to check - this community is so much more helpful than trying to navigate the DOL website alone!

Just wanted to jump in as someone who just started collecting unemployment in January 2025 - I'm seeing all these stories about people finding updated rates in their "Benefit Rate Information" section that don't match their actual payments, and it's making me wonder if I should be proactive about checking this. My claim just started so I assumed whatever rate I'm getting is correct, but now I'm thinking maybe I should verify that I'm actually receiving the 2025 rate from the beginning rather than potentially missing out on money and having to call later for retroactive payments. Has anyone who filed their initial claim in 2025 had issues with getting the correct rate from the start, or is this mainly affecting people whose claims were already active when the increase went into effect? This thread has been super eye-opening about how poor the communication is from NYS Department of Labor!

I just went through this exact same situation last month! I was getting the same weekly amount since filing in November 2024 and had no idea about any increase until I saw a similar discussion in another forum. The key thing I learned is that you really need to check the "Benefit Rate Information" section in your my.ny.gov account - not just your payment history. When I finally looked there, I found an updated rate that had been sitting there since early January showing about $19 more per week than I was actually receiving. I called NYS Department of Labor and they confirmed it was a processing delay on their end. The good news is they made it retroactive back to January 1st, so I got a nice chunk of back payments in my next deposit. Definitely call if you're not seeing the increase by now - you shouldn't have to miss out on money because of their system delays!