How Does EUC work?

For people who are wondering how the Emergency Unemployment Compensation works, the folks at the center for budget and policy priorities have issued a handy bit of information for how many weeks of unemployment you can expect to receive depending on what state you have worked in.

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The unemployment insurance (UI) system helps many people who have lost their jobs by temporarily replacing part of their wages. (See “Policy Basics: Unemployment Insurance.”) The total number of weeks of benefits available in any particular state depends on the unemployment rate and unemployment insurance laws in the state where the person worked. The map below shows the maximum number of weeks of benefits available in each state.

Workers in any state can receive up to 26 weeks of benefits from the regular state-funded unemployment compensation program.

In the current downturn, workers in any state who exhaust their regular UI benefits before they can find a job can receive up to 34 additional weeks of benefits through the temporary federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program enacted in 2008. That number rises to 53 weeks in states with especially high unemployment rates.

Workers who exhaust their regular UI and EUC benefits can receive additional weeks of benefits through the permanent federal-state Extended Benefits (EB) program if their state’s unemployment insurance laws allow it (see table below).

The table below shows how many states fall into each category shown in the map, and what combination of regular UI, EUC, and EB benefits produces the total for those states.