Understanding Partial Unemployment Benefits: A Step-by-Step Guide

When you are awarded unemployment benefits, you are given a total awarded amount and then a weekly compensation amount. That weekly compensation amount is a set amount that assumes you are not earning any income during the week. Any week in which you earn income, such as for a part-time job or a temporary position, you must claim that income. The result is that you will only get a partial benefits payment for any week where you have other income.

Step 1

Add up the amount of income that you earned for the week.

Step 2

Look on your most recent unemployment benefits payment stub, or your award letter, to get your set weekly benefit amount.

Step 3

Use the Job Hunt website (see Resources) to get the web address for your state unemployment office. Once on your state unemployment office website, look to see if there is a partial benefits calculator that you can use, such as is on the Montana state unemployment website.

Step 4

Enter in your weekly benefit amount and your amount of income and click on "Calculate" to get your partial benefits amount, if your state website has a calculator. Some states, such as Pennsylvania, have a chart that you can look at to determine the amount. Each state varies in how they calculate the partial benefits amount, which means there is no set equation to use for the calculation.