How long does unemployment last in Pennsylvania?

If you claim your full rate every week, your maximum benefit amount runs out in 18 to 26 weeks. Weeks paid at a partial rate because of part-time earnings make it last longer, so your claim can run beyond 26 weeks. Either way, your benefits end when that amount is used up or your benefit year ends, whichever comes first.

What decides how many weeks you get

Your credit weeks set the total. Each one is a week in your base year when you earned $116 or more, and who qualifies for unemployment in Pennsylvania explains how they are counted.

That total is your maximum benefit amount. The benefit amounts guide shows how your weekly benefit rate is set, with a worked example that ends in a maximum benefit amount.

When you reach your Benefit Year End date

Your benefit year is 52 consecutive weeks, starting on your Application for Benefits (AB) date, the Sunday that begins the week you apply. Your claim expires at its Benefit Year End (BYE) date. If you are still out of work then, your next step turns on your wages from an employer since you filed your initial claim:

1. Multiply your weekly benefit rate by 6.
2. Add up the wages you earned working for an employer since that first filing.
3. If your wages reach that amount, you must file a new claim. The best way is online on L&I's UC benefits site, or you can call the UC Service Center at 888-313-7284.
4. Keep filing your weekly certifications while L&I decides whether you are eligible for the new claim.

If you keep claiming on the expired claim instead of filing a new one, your benefits may be stopped. Without those earnings, the UC Law does not count an application filed after your benefit year ends as a valid one.

If you go back to work during your benefit year

If you set up your claim within the past year and stopped filing because you took a job, you can reopen the claim on L&I's reopen a claim page if that job ends. The guide to filing a weekly certification in Pennsylvania explains when to reopen.

When your benefits run out

Once you have been paid your maximum benefit amount, or your benefit year has ended without the wages for a new claim, these services may help:

• Work: how to find a job in Pennsylvania covers PA CareerLink and its job search services.
• Food: a Pennsylvanian with a low income may qualify for SNAP to help buy groceries. You can apply for SNAP online through COMPASS, Pennsylvania's benefits management website, in person at your county assistance office, or by mail. You do not need to know whether you are eligible before you apply, since the Department of Human Services (DHS) reviews your application and lets you know.
• Health coverage: Pennie, Pennsylvania's official health insurance marketplace, may let you enroll outside Open Enrollment when you lose other coverage. It advises applying at least a week before your current coverage ends.
• Other needs: PA 211 connects you with free, confidential help when you dial 2-1-1 or text your ZIP code to 898-211.