New York Unemployment Benefits: Calculate Your Potential Payout

Unemployment insurance benefits are available to people who lose a job through no fault of their own. In New York state, your weekly unemployment benefit payment is based on how much you were paid in the three months leading to your job separation. With this information, you can calculate an estimate of your benefit amount before your application is complete, helping you factor the change of income into your budget as soon as possible.

Step 1

Gather your pay stubs from the past year. Include pay stubs from all employers. If you do not have all the necessary pay stubs, contact your previous employers and request a printout or other statement of your weekly wages for the past 12 months.

Step 2

Add your weekly wages together for each of the four quarters before you lost your job. The quarter with the highest amount of wages is your high quarter.

Step 3

Divide your total high quarter wages by 26 if the high quarter wage figure is more than $3,575. If your high quarter wages are less than $3,575, divide the figure by 25. The resulting answer is your estimated weekly benefit amount.

Tip

The New York unemployment office offers alternative weekly benefit calculations to some claimants, but you must contact it to determine if you qualify and how to calculate your benefit amount.