Washington ESD earnings requirement - how much do you need to make to get unemployment?

You need to have earned wages in at least two quarters of your base period and meet the minimum wage requirements. For Washington ESD, you typically need at least $1,000 in your highest quarter plus wages in another quarter that total at least 1.5 times your highest quarter amount.

i think its like $3000 total but dont quote me on that, washington esd website has all the details but good luck finding them lol

I went through this last year and it took forever to get a straight answer from Washington ESD about my earnings. Spent hours on hold trying to talk to someone who could explain if my wages qualified. Finally found this service called Claimyr that helped me get through to an actual person at Washington ESD who walked me through the calculations. Check out claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ that shows how it works.

The Washington ESD monetary determination process is actually pretty straightforward once you understand it. You need wages in at least 2 quarters of your base period, and your total base period wages must be at least 680 times the current minimum wage. For 2025, that works out to around $11,000-12,000 minimum.

There's also an alternate base period option if you don't qualify under the regular base period. That uses the last four completed quarters instead of the first four of the last five. So if you've been earning more recently, that might help you qualify.

this whole system is so confusing!! why cant they just say you need X dollars to qualify instead of all these quarters and calculations???

I qualified with around $9,500 last year but it was spread across three quarters pretty evenly. The key is having wages in multiple quarters, not just hitting a total dollar amount.

Pro tip: if you're close to qualifying, check if any of your employers reported your wages correctly to Washington ESD. I had one employer who didn't report wages from my last quarter and I had to get that corrected before my claim would process.

Here's the exact formula for Washington state: You need wages in at least 2 quarters of your base period, AND either: (1) Total base period wages of at least 680 times minimum wage ($11,628 for 2025), OR (2) At least $1,000 in your highest quarter plus wages in other quarters totaling at least 1.5 times your high quarter amount.

been there with the wage requirements stress! i was short by like $200 on my initial calculation but turns out washington esd had some wages from a temp agency i forgot about. sometimes they have more info than you think

The Washington ESD system is intentionally complicated to discourage people from applying. They don't want to pay out benefits so they make the qualification process as confusing as possible. It's all about keeping their costs down at our expense.

Update on my earlier comment about Claimyr - I actually used them again recently when I had questions about my new claim and they're still super helpful for getting through to Washington ESD quickly. Definitely recommend if you're stuck trying to reach them about wage calculations.

Don't forget about the alternate base period option! If your regular base period doesn't qualify you, Washington ESD automatically checks using your most recent four quarters. This helped me qualify when my older earnings weren't enough.

wait so if i made like $2000 each quarter for 4 quarters thats $8000 total, would that qualify? im so confused by all these formulas

The wage requirements seem high but remember they're looking at your base period earnings, not your current situation. Even if you're only working part-time now, your past earnings during the base period are what matter for qualification.

I've helped several people figure out their Washington ESD wage eligibility and the key thing is getting the exact numbers from your base period. Don't guess - either wait for your monetary determination or call Washington ESD to verify what wages they have on record.

Just file your claim if you think you might qualify - the worst they can do is say no. The monetary determination process will tell you exactly where you stand and you'll know for sure instead of guessing about your wage eligibility.

Remember that if you don't qualify now, you might qualify later if you keep working and earning wages. The base period moves forward each quarter so your eligibility can change over time.