To apply for Michigan unemployment benefits click here

The most recent figures for Michigan show an unemployment rate of 4.5%.

Non-Monetary Eligibility Requirements

You can collect benefits if you meet a series of legal eligibility requirements:

• Have earned qualifying wages
• Are unemployed through no fault of their own,
• Are able and obtainable to work full-time and
• Are keenly looking for full-time work

In addition to having adequate earnings, you must meet other eligibility benefits to be entitled for UI benefits. Some instances of issues that may influence eligibility for UI benefits comprise:

• Reason for job separation
• Proper weekly claim filing
• School attendance
• Self employment or corporate offices
• Strike or labor disputes
• Denial of a job offer
• Alien status
• School employee
• Illness or injury
• Professional athlete

More details on UI eligibility can be found in the unemployment eligibility article.

Monetary Eligibility Requirements

Qualifying Wages:

You must have worked at least two calendar quarters of your Base period, and have enough wages. Under the present Law, you may be eligible monetarily if you were paid wages in covered employment of at least $858.00 in the calendar quarter of your period in which your wages were the maximum and your total base period wages were no less than one and a half times the wages paid in that highest quarter.

For more information on Base Period and monetary determination refer unemployment eligibility article.

How long will I receive benefits:

Usually, most states permit an individual to obtain unemployment for a maximum of 26 weeks, or half the benefit the benefit year. A few states have standardized benefit duration, while most have different durations depending upon the worker. In a state with varied duration, it is probable that the benefit year may include less than 26 payable weeks.

The calculation is normally which us smaller: 26xWBA or 1/3 BPW. WBA is the Weekly Benefit Amount, so 26xWBA would be the regular week program. 1/3 BPW refers to the Base Period Wages, so if a person did not succeed to earn more than 3 times the standard benefit amount, they will be suitable for fewer weeks of coverage.

How much weekly benefit will I receive:

You can guess your Potential Benefits Online. Your weekly benefit amount and the number of weeks of entitlement to benefits are based on the wages you were paid and amount of time you worked during your base period. The weekly benefit amount is calculated by dividing the sum of the wages earned during the highest quarter of the base period by 26, rounded down to the next lower whole dollar. The result cannot exceed the utmost weekly benefit permitted by rule.

The base period is the term used to describe the time frame used as the basis for deciding whether or not you will be monetarily eligible for unemployment.

How are Benefits Calculated:

Once you make out how the unemployment are calculated, you will have a fair idea of how much you could receive per week or per benefit period if you were to lose your job. This is significant when you think taking unemployment or searching another job.

Unemployment is computed and one half of what your weekly pay was at the time of the discharge up to your state's maximum benefit. You will have to verify with your state's unemployment office to see what the highest payout for your state is. For further details refer unemployment benefits article.

Recently Asked Questions:

• The Chargeable Benefit Component (CBC) is made up of the total unemployment charges against the employer for the most recent 5 years.
• The Account Building Component (ABC) is a reserve account for possible payment of future benefits. The amount required in this component is based on the payroll for the most recent year.
• The Non-Chargeable Benefits Component (NBC) is used to pay benefits that cannot be charged to a specific employer's account.

A worker is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if he or she is fired for misconduct in connection with the work. If a worker is fired for incompetence or inability, rather than for willful misconduct, the worker will not be denied unemployment benefits.

Even if a worker is fired for misconduct and disqualified from drawing unemployment benefits, he or she may requalify for benefits by going back to work and earning a certain required amount. The worker will then be able to collect benefits, but the UIA account of the employer involved in the firing will not be charged for the benefits.

If vacation pay and holiday pay vest within 14 days of the vacation or holiday, and if such pay is allocated by the employer to a specific week or weeks, it will be used for credit week and average weekly wage purposes for that week or those weeks, and will be taxable to the employer. It will also be used to reduce the worker's unemployment benefits for that week or those weeks. However, the employer cannot assign the payments to particular weeks if the employment contract prevents the employer from doing so.

Severance pay and wage continuation pay are taxable to the employer but will not be used as base period wages to establish a claim. Severance pay will reduce a worker's entitlement to unemployment benefits during the week(s) designated by the employer or during the week(s) paid if not allocated to a specific period by the employer.

Sick pay paid due to actual illness, and paid under an employer plan, will not be taxable to the employer, and will not be counted as part of a worker's average weekly wage nor used to establish a credit week.

• $1,998 for benefit years beginning prior to 4/1/2007
• $2,697 for benefit years beginning 4/1/2007 through 1/5/2008
• $2,774 bor benefit years beginning 1/6/2008 through 1/3/2009
• $2,871 for benefit years beginning on or after 1/4/2009

The applicant's total base period wages must equal at least 1.5 times the high quarter wages. If the employee was not paid enough wages in the Standard Base period, wages can be used from the Alternate Base Period, which is the last four completed calendar quarters.

If a business employs a temporary or probationary employee during the base period and the worker is paid sufficient wages by one or more other employers, the worker could set up a claim for unemployment benefits and the employer who provided the temporary or probationary work could be one of the chargeable employers on that claim.