Utah will sometimes participate in extended unemployment benefit programs that provide additional assistance to workers who have depleted their regular Utah unemployment insurance benefits. Typically, such programs are established to offer financial aid to jobless individuals when Utah’s economy is struggling.
Are Extended Benefits currently available in Utah?
As of 2023, there are no Extended Benefits available in Utah. Unemployed workers who apply for unemployment can receive 10 to 26 weeks of benefits, depending on how much they earned during their base period. You can use the Utah unemployment calculator to estimate your payment and the number of weeks you can receive benefits.
Utah Extended Benefit (EB) Program)
The extended benefits (EB) program is a collaborative effort between the federal government and individual states. Utah extended unemployment benefits automatically kick in once the unemployment rate for the preceding 13 weeks is a minimum of 5% and is 120% of the average rates for the same 13-week period in the two previous years.
During the implementation of the EB program, an extra 13 weeks of benefits are provided.
Qualifying claimants must continue to meet the state’s eligibility conditions, which include filing a weekly claim and meeting the work search requirements.
Utah Disaster Unemployment Assistance
The Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) program offers unemployment benefits to individuals who have lost their jobs due to a major disaster, as declared by the president of the United States.
To be eligible for this benefit, the applicant must have suffered an employment or self-employment loss directly resulting from the disaster, and they must not qualify for regular unemployment insurance benefits under any state or federal law.
CARES Act and American Rescue Plan
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was signed into law in March 2020 by President Donald Trump. Later, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Both laws created federal unemployment programs to provide emergency benefits to individuals who depleted their standard unemployment benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic. These extended benefit programs expired in September 2021 and are no longer available.
Federal unemployment programs included:
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
PUA was a temporary federal benefits program that was intended for people who were not qualified for state unemployment benefits, particularly self-employed individuals and the average gig worker.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
PEUC was an extended unemployment benefit program funded by the federal government and provided to individuals who depleted their state unemployment benefits. This program gave an extra 13 weeks of unemployment benefits in Utah.
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) was the federal government’s stimulus payment of $300 per week for any individual who qualified for Utah unemployment insurance benefits.
Mixed Earnings Unemployment Compensation
The Mixed Earnings Unemployment Compensation program provided additional payment for people who lost both self-employment income and wages covered by unemployment insurance. Eligible Utahns received an extra $100 per week in federal unemployment benefits.
Utah ended its participation in these programs on June 26, 2021
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