Weekly benefit amount and weeks in New Jersey

The weekly benefit

Weekly benefit

up to $905

Maximum: claims filed in calendar year 2026 (the maximum for 2025 was $875)

How it is figured

Your weekly benefit rate is 60% of your average weekly wage in your base year, rounded down to the whole dollar, up to the maximum ($905 in 2026). NJDOL figures your average weekly wage from the wages your employers report. Dependency benefits can add up to 15%, within the same maximum.

Dependents

If your weekly benefit rate is below the maximum, you can get dependency benefits: 7% more for your first dependent and 4% more for each of the next two (up to 3 dependents, up to 15% more), but never more than the $905 maximum. A dependent is an unemployed spouse or civil union partner, an unemployed unmarried child under 19 (under 22 if a full-time student), or an unemployed unmarried disabled adult child whose disability began before age 22. You cannot get them if your spouse is working the week you file, and only one spouse can claim them. You must send proof within 6 weeks of your date of claim.

Official

Official table or notice

Law: N.J.S.A. 43:21-3(c)

The wage test

For claims filed in 2026, you need at least 20 'base weeks' in your base year (a base week is a week in which you earned at least $310), or total base-year earnings of at least $15,500.

Your base year is usually the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before the week you apply. If you do not qualify that way, NJDOL checks two alternate base years: the last four completed quarters, or the last three completed quarters plus the weeks of the current quarter up to your date of claim. There is also a special alternate base year if you file within 4 weeks after recovering from a temporary disability or a workers' compensation disability and your employer has no work for you.

The state's wage tests

• 20 base weeks of at least $310 each (claims filed in 2026) — At least 20 weeks in your base year in which you earned at least $310 in covered work
• Total base-year earnings of at least $15,500 (claims filed in 2026)

Law: N.J.S.A. 43:21-4(e)(4), 43:21-19(c), (t)

Official source: Source page

Estimate your weekly benefit

Enter the gross wages (before taxes) you were paid in each quarter of your base period. We apply the state's own formula to your numbers.

The state's formula: your average weekly wage × 60%, rounded down; at most $905

How long it lasts

Up to 26 weeks.

Your maximum benefit amount is your weekly benefit rate times the number of base weeks you worked in your base year, up to 26 weeks. For example, 20 base weeks at $200 a week is $4,000. You have one year (your benefit year) from your date of claim to collect it. In 2026 the most anyone can get in a benefit year is $23,530 ($905 x 26).

Extra weeks and training

If a One-Stop Career Center counselor approves your training before you enroll, you may get a work-search waiver and up to 26 weeks of Additional Benefits during Training (ABT). NJDOL says there are no other state or federal extension programs now.

Law: N.J.S.A. 43:21-3(d)

Official source: Source page

Waiting week

New Jersey has no unpaid waiting week for claims that began on or after January 1, 2002.

Law: N.J.S.A. 43:21-4(d)

Official source: Source page

Working part time

You may get partial benefits if your hours were cut, as long as you do not work more than 80% of the hours normally worked in the job (for example, no more than 32 hours if you worked 40). You can earn up to 20% of your weekly benefit rate and still get your full weekly benefit. If you earn more than that, your 'partial weekly benefit rate' (your weekly rate plus 20%) is reduced dollar for dollar by your gross earnings, and you are never paid more than your weekly benefit rate. Example from NJDOL: with a $200 weekly rate, the partial rate is $240; if you earn $50, you get $190. Report gross earnings and hours for the week you earned them. Election Day pay from a county Board of Elections does not count.

Earnings not deducted (as the data states it)

The amount not deducted is the greater of $5 or 20% of your weekly benefit amount.

Law: N.J.S.A. 43:21-3(b)

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

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