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Partial Benefits (Working Part Time)

Key Points

  1. You must report any wages you earn when you certify for benefits.
  2. If you work part time, you may still qualify for unemployment insurance benefits.

I’ve been receiving unemployment insurance benefits, but last week I worked a part-time job. What should I do?
When you complete your next certification, you must report all gross wages you earned. Remember, wages must be reported for the week when you earned them, not when you actually received them. If your gross wages earned in any week are less than your weekly benefit amount, you still may be eligible to receive a full or partial benefit payment.

Reminder:
Gross wages are the amount you earn before taxes and other deductions are taken from the paycheck.

How much will I receive in benefits if I worked part time?
That depends on how much you earned:

  • Your earnings for the week must be less than your weekly benefit amount (not including your dependent allowance).
  • Any wages earned that are greater than 50% of your weekly benefit amount will be deducted from your unemployment insurance benefits for that week.
  • If you earned less than 50% of your weekly benefit amount, you can receive your full amount of unemployment insurance benefits for that week.
  • If the partial benefit amount does not come to an even dollar, it is raised to the next higher dollar, as long as it does not exceed your weekly benefit amount.

For example:

If your weekly benefit amount (not including dependent allowance) is… $110.00
50% of that amount is… $55.00
If your earnings are…
 $76.50
The amount that exceeds 50% of your weekly benefit amount is…
 $21.50
The difference between your weekly benefit amount… $110.00
And the amount of your earnings that exceeds 50% of your weekly benefit amount… $21.50
Gives you a partial benefit amount of… $88.50
   
Raised to the next highest dollar… $89.00

What happens if I go back to work full time?

If you work full time, you are ineligible because you are not unemployed even if your earnings for the week are less than your weekly benefit amount. When you complete your next certification, report that you have returned to work by entering your earnings.

For more information on partial benefits, see the Unemployment Insurance Benefits Handbook