Unemployment While Training for a New Job
- Benefits are designed to support those who aren't employed, but who want to be. The amount of benefits a person will receive is based on two main factors, although the specific amount will vary by state. The first factor is the amount of money the person was taking in before he was fired. The second is how much money the person is making now. Unless job training is compensated, the person will likely remain eligible for benefits.
- To receive benefits, a person must also continue to look for a job and be available to take a job offered to him. If the person does not meet either of these requirements, he will not be able to receive benefits. Also, if the person's income, from any source, is too high, he may not be able to receive benefits or he will qualify for only partial benefits.
- If a person is training for a new job and is not receiving compensation for it, he will likely be be able to continue to receive unemployment benefits. However, if the person is receiving compensation, then the unemployment agency will either cut his benefits or deny them to him entirely, depending on the size of the benefits. If the agency interprets the training period of the new job as a compensate part of the job himself, his period receiving unemployment will end.
- An unemployment agency will likely not deny a person benefits if he is currently training for a job but is not receiving any income. However, one of the eligibility requirements for receiving benefits is that the person continue to search for a job. The person may be required to continue his job search while undergoing training, although the agency may consider the training to be a part of the search.