Weekly benefit amount and weeks in Georgia

The weekly benefit

Weekly benefit

$55–$365

Maximum: claims filed now

How it is figured

Your weekly benefit amount is the total wages in your 2 highest quarters divided by 42. If you do not qualify that way, GDOL uses your highest quarter divided by 21. The minimum is $55 a week and the maximum is $365.

Official

Official table or notice

The wage test

You must have wages in at least 2 quarters of your base period, at least $1,134 in your 2 highest quarters, and total base-period wages of at least 1.5 times your highest quarter. If the 1.5-times rule is the only thing you miss, GDOL tries a second calculation.

Your base period is the first four of the last five full calendar quarters before your claim starts. If you do not qualify with it, GDOL uses an alternative base period: the last four full calendar quarters.

The state's wage tests

• Wages in 2 quarters, $1,134 in your 2 highest quarters, and total wages at least 1.5 times your highest quarter — At least $1,134 in your two highest quarters combined

Official source: Source page

How long it lasts

Currently 14 weeks (it changes with the unemployment rate).

The most you can get in your benefit year is the lower of your weekly benefit amount times the number of weeks in effect (14 for claims filed July to December 2026) or one-fourth of your total base-period wages. The fewest weeks a claim can have is 6.

The number of weeks (14 to 26) depends on Georgia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. Claims filed July 1 to December 31 use the rate for the previous April; claims filed January 1 to June 30 use the rate for the previous October. At 4.5% or less you get up to 14 weeks; each 0.5% more adds a week, up to 26 weeks at 10% or more.

Law: Georgia's April 2026 rate was 3.5%, so claims filed July 1 to December 31, 2026 get up to 14 weeks

Extra weeks and training

If you are in GDOL-approved school or training, you may keep getting benefits while you meet attendance and progress rules.

Source: Claimant Trainee Program

Law: 2021 H.B. 1090, effective March 27, 2022)

Official source: Source page

Waiting week

GDOL's claimant handbook does not list an unpaid waiting week. If you are approved, you are paid for each eligible week you requested.

Official source: Source page

Working part time

If you work part time or your hours are cut, you may still get partial benefits. Report your gross earnings for the week you earned them, even if you have not been paid yet. Any earnings over $50 in a week are subtracted dollar for dollar from your weekly benefit amount. Your employer may also file a partial claim for you if you work less than 30 hours in a week because of lack of work.

Earnings not deducted (as the data states it)

The first $50 you earn in a week is not deducted.

Law: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 300-2-4-.09

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 1-877-709-8185. Legal aid and other free help in Georgia → Official sources →