Regular Benefits

• Unemployment benefits in New Jersey last up to 26 weeks if the state jobless rate is at a relatively normal level. The actual length of your benefits hinges on how many weeks you worked during your base period, which comprises the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. You receive a week of benefits for every week of work during those four quarters, up to a maximum of 26 weeks. After that, you might be eligible for an extension.
  
  

State Extensions

• When the unemployment rate in New Jersey is at least 6.5 percent, you can receive benefits for an additional 13 weeks after your regular benefits expire. If the jobless rate is 8 percent or greater, the extended benefits last 20 weeks. In May 2011, for example, residents were eligible for 46 weeks of benefits through the state program because the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent. If you received fewer than 26 weeks of regular benefits, you likely would receive fewer than 20 weeks of extended benefits; you technically receive the lesser of 20 weeks or 80 percent of your total regular benefits.
  
  

Extension Requirements

• To be eligible for state extended benefits, you must have either worked at least 20 weeks during your base period at a minimum weekly wage of $145, as of 2011, or earned 40 times your weekly unemployment benefit amount during your base period. When you enter the state extension portion of your unemployment benefits, the rules about continued eligibility become stricter than during your regular benefits period. You must submit proof of your work search each week that you file for benefits, and the state becomes more vigilant about keeping tabs on your work search.
  
  

Federal Benefits

• A federally funded program, Emergency Unemployment Compensation, is in effect through 2011 and more than doubles the weeks of benefits a New Jersey resident could collect through regular and extended benefits alone. EUC benefits include four tiers that total 53 weeks as long as the state unemployment rate remains above 8.5 percent. If the rate drops below that mark, the six-week fourth tier would no longer be available. In the event it decreases to below 6 percent, the 13-week third tier would become unavailable. The first two tiers, 34 weeks combined, are available as long as EUC is in place.
  
  

Qualifying Factors

• Most New Jersey residents who began receiving regular unemployment benefits after May 2006 can move on to receive EUC benefits. As with state extended benefits, during your base period you must have worked for at least 20 weeks or earned 40 times your weekly benefit amount. New Jersey does not require you to apply for EUC benefits. Assuming you are eligible, you automatically begin receiving them after exhausting your regular benefits. When EUC benefits are available, you receive them before state extended benefits.
  
  

Timetable

• Congress must authorize additional funding for EUC to continue past 2011. Without authorization, a phaseout of the program will begin at the end of the year. If you have not finished your regular benefits by Dec. 25, 2011, you would not be able to receive EUC. If you are receiving EUC on Dec. 31, 2011, you would be able to do so only until the benefits in your tier expire. The four tiers last 20, 14, 13 and six weeks. If you are in the first tier at the deadline, for example, the final 33 weeks of the program would be unavailable to you. You can continue receiving the benefits in your tier until June 9, 2012, when the program would cease.