Unemployment benefits are payments that you can get if you lose your job due to the business closing or another reason outside of your control. Unemployment benefits are paid out by the local state employment agency where you live, and how much you can get paid depends on your previous pay rate and the laws of the state where you last worked.
In 2020, due to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Government expanded unemployment benefits payments within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This means that people could receive additional payments and for longer periods of time in addition to traditional unemployment benefits.
Up until July 31, 2020, you could receive supplemental unemployment payments of up to $600 each week (which adds up to roughly $2400 each month). This was a huge amount of money for millions of struggling Americans.
In December 2020, President Trump signed into law the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act (Continued Assistance Act), which granted $600 stimulus payments to qualified individuals and also extended pandemic-related unemployment assistance.
Here is a look at some additional unemployment benefits updates that took effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) is a supplemental payment added to traditional unemployment payments. Under the CARES Act, these additional payments of $600 expired in July 2020. Under the Continued Assistance Act, the payments are set to expire in March 2021. However, the government may extend the deadline for this, so be sure to check back.
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is extended unemployment benefits that covers individuals who no longer qualify for unemployment benefits or that have run out of their prior unemployment benefits payments. PUA provides coverage for up to 50 weeks.
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits (PEUC) provides an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits for those who have already exhausted all other benefits.
See If You Qualify
Remember that unemployment benefits are organized by the state agency where you live. To locate your local unemployment agency, visit CareerOneStop.org, the US government’s official unemployment benefits finder website. Then, select the state in which you used to work, and click the blue Search button. On the next step, you will be able to view the websites for the agency that you need to contact.
Good luck!
