Who qualifies for NYS Department of Labor $600 weekly unemployment benefit amount?
I keep hearing about people getting $600 per week in unemployment but I'm only getting $350. My friend said there's some higher amount available but I can't find clear info on the NYS Department of Labor website about who qualifies for the $600 weekly benefit. I worked full time making about $52K before I got laid off last month. Should I be getting more than what they approved me for? The my.ny.gov portal doesn't explain how they calculated my weekly benefit amount and I'm wondering if I need to appeal or if there's additional benefits I'm missing.
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Carmen Lopez
The $600 amount you're hearing about might be confusion from the old federal FPUC payments that ended in 2021. Your current NYS Department of Labor weekly benefit is based on your earnings history - it's roughly half your average weekly wage up to the state maximum. With a $52K salary, $350 sounds about right for regular UI benefits. You can check your benefit calculation in your my.ny.gov account under claim details.
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Yuki Ito
•That makes sense, I was wondering if those old federal payments were still around. So the $350 is probably correct for my earnings then?
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Andre Dupont
wait i thought the max was like $504 or something?? i'm getting way less than that and worked retail for 3 years
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QuantumQuasar
•Yes, the NYS maximum weekly benefit is $504 for 2025, but your actual amount depends on what you earned in your base period. Retail wages are often lower so that could explain why you're getting less than the maximum.
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Zoe Papanikolaou
I had the same confusion when I first filed! Took me forever to get through to NYS Department of Labor to ask about my benefit amount. If you really can't get answers from the website, I ended up using this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get connected to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Made it so much easier than sitting on hold for hours trying to reach someone at the unemployment office.
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Jamal Wilson
•How much does something like that cost? I've been trying to call NYS Department of Labor for weeks about my claim status.
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Zoe Papanikolaou
•It's worth checking out - way less frustrating than the regular phone system. I was able to get my questions answered about benefit calculations and adjudication stuff that the website didn't explain clearly.
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Mei Lin
The whole NYS Department of Labor system is confusing as hell. They should just tell you exactly how they calculate everything instead of making you guess. I've been on unemployment twice and both times had to figure out the benefit amount thing on my own.
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Liam Fitzgerald
•Seriously! And good luck trying to appeal if you think they calculated it wrong.
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Gabrielle Dubois
I went through this exact same confusion when I first filed! The key thing to understand is that NYS unemployment benefits are calculated based on your earnings during your "base period" (usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before you filed). Your weekly benefit amount is roughly 50% of your average weekly wage during that period, up to the state maximum of $504 for 2025. With your $52K salary, $350 weekly sounds about right - that would be consistent with earning around $36K during your base period. The $600 amount people mention is likely leftover confusion from the federal FPUC payments that ended years ago. You can request a detailed benefit calculation from NYS Department of Labor if you want to verify the math, but your amount seems correct based on the standard formula.
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Aisha Patel
•This is really helpful - thank you for breaking down the base period calculation! I didn't realize it was based on the first 4 of the last 5 quarters. That explains why my amount might be different from my most recent salary. Do you know if there's a way to see exactly which quarters they used for my calculation in the my.ny.gov portal? I want to make sure they have the right wage information.
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