Unemployment Benefits

• Unemployment benefits are issued by state governments according to criteria developed by the individual states. Generally, states require that the person receiving benefits have been terminated through no fault of his own, but due to structural changes by his employer. However, if the person continues to receive some form of income after he has been fired, this may qualify him for a smaller amount of benefits or disqualify him from receiving benefits entirely.
  
  

Size of Benefits

• Unemployment benefits are designed to help financially support people who have suffered a drop in their income. Generally, the amount of benefits a person receives depends on how much income he is currently bringing in as well as how much he was making while employed. When collecting rent will affect the receipt of unemployment benefits will depend on how much rent the person is receiving and how much he earned while actively employed.
  
  

Income

• "Income" is defined not just as the wages that a person receives from a job, but all forms of financial support that he is receiving. Therefore, if a person is earning money from renting out properties, this money is considered a form of income. When a person applies for unemployment, he must report all forms of income to the state unemployment agency. If he fails to, he may be found guilty of fraud and benefits could be retroactively revoked.
  
  

Considerations

• If a person is collecting rent that he does not receive as income, then the money does not need to be reported to the state unemployment agency. For example, if his name is on a lease and his roommates are paying him money to live on the property, but this money is being turned over to a landlord, then the money will not count against him and will not affect the benefits he receives.