How to Estimate Your Unemployment Rates in Pennsylvania
- 1). Determine if you are eligible to receive benefits. In general, you must be unemployed through no fault of your own and be ready, willing and able to accept suitable employment. Pennsylvania law allows individuals to claim benefits under certain situations -- such as voluntarily quitting because of health reasons. Check with the labor department if you have questions.
- 2). Calculate how much you earned in each calendar quarter in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. This constitutes your "base year." A quarter is a three-month period; the first begins in January and ends in March.
- 3). Determine if you earned at least $50 dollars in 16 to 17 weeks during the base year. Each week in which you earned at least $50 or more counts as a credit week. You need 16 to 17 credit weeks to qualify for benefits.
- 4). Use the financial charts provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry to estimate your benefits amount. Use the highest quarterly wages to estimate your benefits.
For example, if you earned between $6,388 and $6,412, you may be eligible to receive $258 per week (as of June 2011).