How many weeks can I collect unemployment insurance benefits?
The law has a formula for calculating how many weeks of unemployment insurance benefits that you may qualify for on your claim. The number of weeks of full entitlement you can receive will vary between 10 weeks at a minimum and 26 weeks at a maximum. The formula is a ratio of your total base period wages divided by your highest base period quarter. Basically, the person who earns the most equal amount of money per quarter in the base period1 is awarded more weeks of unemployment. A person who has periods in the base period where they did not work as much, or earned much more than the other quarters will have their number of weeks reduced because of the ratio formula. When you file a claim for unemployment, it is set up for a 52-week period. If you draw a full weekly benefit amount each week, you will run out of money in the number of weeks that you are entitled to. You can work and draw unemployment. (See question Can I work and still collect unemployment insurance benefits?) If you ar
