Fact Check: Do unemployment benefits typically pay more than an individual’s lost wages?

Unemployment insurance is a safety net for displaced workers. The value of benefits declines over time and tends to be more generous to higher-income earners. From 1996 to 2013, workers who lost their jobs and were in the lowest quintile of pre-job loss earnings received an equivalent of 22% of their lost earnings, compared to 29% for workers in the fourth quintile. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal relief legislation expanded unemployment benefits to include an additional $600 weekly payment. In this case, some workers did earn more on unemployment than in their previous jobs, but it depended on the state. Though the weekly $600 expansion ended on July 31, 2020, it was later replaced by an additional $300 weekly payment on January 6, 2021 that will end on September 1, 2021.