unemployment insurance benefits during periods of high unemployment. The basic Extended Benefits program provides up to 13 additional weeks of benefits when a State is experiencing high unemployment. Some States have also enacted a voluntary program to pay up to 7 additional weeks (20 weeks maximum) of Extended Benefits during periods of extremely high unemployment. Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) is a thirteen-week extension initiated by the CARES Act. Reachback In addition to individuals who exhausted all rights to benefits after the original date of enactment, the EUC law includes what is commonly referred to as a reachback provision. A reachback provision makes eligible those individuals who exhausted all rights to benefits prior to the original date of enactment (back to a specified date). The EUC law makes eligible all individuals whose benefit year ending date is on or after May 1, 2007. Practically speaking, this means some individuals receiving EUC may have become unemployed as early as May 2006. See also Involuntary unemployment References External links U.S. Dept. of Labor Unemployment Page U.S. Dept. of Labor (About Unemployment Insurance) Comparison of Unemployment Extension Benefits in U.S. BLS.gov State Unemployment Rates Benefits Labour law Social security in the United States