Can I collect Social Security retirement and unemployment benefits at the same time without exceeding income limits?

Unemployment benefits do NOT count toward your Social Security earnings limit. The earnings limit only applies to wages from actual work or self-employment income. You can collect both without one affecting the other. However, in some states, your SS benefits might reduce your unemployment benefits. Each state has different rules about this. You should check with your state's unemployment office to see if they count Social Security as deductible income.

my brother had this exact situation last year!!! he got both payments with no problem, unemployment didnt mess with his SS at all. but he had to keep doing the weekly unemployment certification saying he was looking for work, even tho he was technically retired. kinda weird system if u ask me

I can confirm that unemployment benefits don't count toward the Social Security earnings limit. However, here's what you need to be careful about: 1. If you find part-time work while collecting both, those earnings DO count toward your limit 2. For 2025, if you're under Full Retirement Age (FRA) all year, the limit is $22,320 as you mentioned 3. Once you exceed that limit, SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above the limit 4. You must report ANY work activity to both SSA and unemployment Also, make sure you understand the long-term impact of taking SS early. At 62, your benefit is permanently reduced by about 30% compared to waiting until FRA.

wait im confused does unemployment count as income or not??? i keep hearing different things

When I got laid off at 63 last year, I had a NIGHTMARE trying to reach Social Security to ask this same question! Spent 4 days calling and getting disconnected or waiting for hours. Finally tried this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real person at SSA in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent confirmed unemployment doesn't count against earnings limit, but my state (Illinois) reduced my unemployment by 50% of my SS payment. Worth getting the official answer for your state!

I'm going through the EXACT same thing but I'm 63. The most annoying part is how each agency gives you different information! My unemployment interviewer told me I couldn't collect both, but when I finally reached someone at Social Security, they said it was perfectly fine. The systems DON'T talk to each other efficiently. Make sure you're keeping records of EVERYTHING - all payments, all communications. The only thing that counts toward your SS earnings limit is ACTUAL WORK. But remember, both unemployment and Social Security are potentially taxable income, so you might want to have taxes withheld from both to avoid a surprise next April.

The whole system is DESIGNED to confuse seniors!!! They WANT you to make mistakes so they can hit you with penalties and overpayment notices later!! I've been dealing with these agencies for years and the left hand never knows what the right is doing. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING and don't trust what any single employee tells you because the next one will say something completely different!!

Here's a practical way to calculate your safe working limit for 2025: 1. Take the annual limit: $22,320 2. Divide by your hourly rate to get max hours for the year For example, if you find a job paying $20/hour: $22,320 ÷ $20 = 1,116 hours per year 1,116 ÷ 52 weeks = ~21.5 hours per week Stay under that, and you won't trigger any benefit reductions. Going over isn't the end of the world though - you'll eventually get the withheld benefits back after reaching your Full Retirement Age in the form of a recalculation.