Regular Unemployment

• Regular unemployment benefits extend up to 26 weeks. To be eligible for unemployment, you must be unemployed or have had your available work greatly reduced, be an American citizen or have been employed legally, and be actively seeking—and willing to accept—suitable work. The amount of payment is based on either the highest amount of wages paid during a consecutive three-month period during the last year or, if that amount how is insufficient for eligibility, the total wages paid during the last year.
  
  

Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation

• These benefits are broken down into three time periods or tiers. Tier one begins when regular unemployment has been exhausted and extends up to 20 weeks. Tier two continues the benefits for another 14 weeks, and the third tier extends benefits up to 13 weeks.
  
  

Federal-State Extended Benefits

• After the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits have been exhausted, unemployed individuals are eligible for 13 additional weeks of unemployment through the Federal-State Extended Benefits.