Weekly benefit amount and weeks in Alaska

The weekly benefit

Weekly benefit

$56–$370

Maximum: set in AS 23.20.350(d) (not indexed)

How it is figured

Your weekly benefit comes from a table in Alaska law based on your total base-period wages: $56 a week for $2,500 to $2,749.99, rising $2 for each $250 step, up to $370 a week for $42,000 or more. If 90% or more of your base-period wages were paid in one quarter, the wages from your other quarters times 10 are used instead. Dependents' allowances are added on top.

Dependents

$24 a week for each dependent child (natural child, stepchild, adopted child or legal ward under 18, or older if disabled), up to $72 a week for three. The child must live with you or you must provide more than half of their support.

Official

Official table or notice

Law: AS 23.20.350(c), (d), (f)

The wage test

You must have been paid at least $2,500 in base-period wages, in at least two calendar quarters of the base period.

Your claim is based on wages in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. If you do not qualify, you may be eligible for an alternate base period claim using the last four completed quarters.

The state's wage tests

• At least $2,500 in base-period wages, paid in at least 2 quarters

Law: AS 23.20.350(a)

Official source: Source page

How long it lasts

Up to 26 weeks.

You can get 16 to 26 weeks of benefits, depending on your earnings ratio (total base-period wages divided by your highest-quarter wages): under 1.50 gives 16 weeks; 1.50-1.99, 18; 2.00-2.49, 20; 2.50-2.99, 22; 3.00-3.49, 24; 3.50 or more, 26 weeks.

Law: AS 23.20.350(e)

Official source: Source page

Waiting week

All new claims have an unpaid waiting week: the first week you are eligible. You must still claim it to get credit. The waiting week is not deducted from your benefit amount.

Law: AS 23.20.375(b)

Official source: Source page

Working part time

You must report all wages earned each week. Your benefit (not counting the dependents' allowance) is reduced by 75 cents for each dollar you earn over $50. If you earn 1 1/3 times your weekly benefit plus $50 or more, you get no payment that week.

Earnings not deducted (as the data states it)

The amount not deducted is $50 plus 25% of your earnings that week.

Law: AS 23.20.360

Official source: Source page

What applies in every state

• You must have earned enough wages, or worked enough, during a period called the base period. In most states it is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file.
• It generally takes two to three weeks after you file to get your first payment. Some states require a one-week waiting period, so the second week you claim is the first week paid.
• Unemployment benefits count as income for federal income tax. You must report them on your federal tax return.

  Law: 26 U.S.C. 85(a)

Free help

Call 907-269-4700. Legal aid and other free help in Alaska → Official sources →