Unemployment Insurance

Certain benefits may be available to unemployed workers to provide them with income support during a spell of unemployment. The cornerstone of this income support is the joint federal-state Unemployment Compensation (UC) program, which may provide income support through the payment of UC benefits for up to a maximum of 26 weeks in most states. Other programs that may provide workers with income support are more specialized. They may target special groups of workers, be automatically triggered by certain economic conditions, be temporarily created by Congress with a set expiration date, or target typically ineligible workers through a disaster declaration. UC benefits may be extended at the state level by the permanent Extended Benefit (EB) program if high unemployment exists within the state. Once regular unemployment benefits are exhausted, the EB program may provide up to an additional 13 or 20 weeks of benefits, depending on worker eligibility, state law, and economic conditions in the state. The EB program is funded 50% by the federal government and 50% by the states. A temporary, now-expired unemployment insurance program, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) program, began in July 2008 and ended in December 2013. For details on EUC08, see CRS Report R42444, Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08): Status of Benefits Prior to Expiration. Former civilian federal employees may be eligible for unemployment benefits through the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. Former U. S. military servicemembers may be eligible for unemployment benefits through the unemployment compensation for ex-servicemembers (UCX) program. The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 1991 (P. L. 102-164) provides that ex-servicemembers be treated the same as other unemployed workers with respect to benefit levels, the waiting period for benefits, and benefit duration. (See CRS Report RS22440, Unemployment Compensation (Insurance) and Military Service.) If an unemployed worker is not eligible to receive UC benefits and the worker's unemployment may be directly attributed to a declared major disaster, that worker may be eligible to receive Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits under the Stafford Act. The federal disaster declaration will include information on whether DUA benefits are available. For information on Disaster Unemployment Assistance, see CRS Report RS22022, Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA). Certain groups of workers who lose their jobs because of international competition may qualify for additional or supplemental support through Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) programs or (for certain workers aged 50 or older) through Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance (RTAA). This report does not describe the TAA or RTAA programs. (See CRS Report R44153, Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers and the TAA Reauthorization Act of 2015 for information on these programs.) Within the unemployment insurance system, there are also two programs that provide alternative benefits in lieu of benefits through the UC program: the Short-Time Compensation (STC) or "work sharing" program and the Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) program.