Title: What to know about unemployment benefits if you're laid off again
Headings: You may get laid off again. Here’s what to know about your unemployment benefits
You may get laid off again. Here’s what to know about your unemployment benefits
Key Points
OLIVIER DOULIERY | AFP | Getty Images
Amount of benefits
A year of unemployment benefits
What happens when the ‘benefit year’ ends?

Content: The CARES Act offered some groups, like self-employed and gig workers, a total 39 weeks of unemployment benefits, via the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. It expires at the end of the year. These workers are typically ineligible for traditional state benefits. What happens when the ‘benefit year’ ends? High levels of joblessness could persist into next year. That could prove problematic for workers who’ve exhausted or nearly depleted their benefits, Evermore said. While a person can reapply for unemployment after the end of their current “benefit year” — in March 2021, let’s say, which would mark roughly a year from the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S. — their aid may be much less than it had been previously. They may also be deemed ineligible for any benefits. States typically use a person’s earnings over the prior four quarters to determine the amount of their weekly unemployment pay. But a long spell of joblessness would likely mean workers don’t have enough wages over that period to qualify for benefits.