The state Department of Labor is raising the maximum unemployment insurance benefit rate from $504 per week to $869 per week beginning next Monday, and benefit checks will reflect the change the following Tuesday.

According to DOL, 27% of recipients will see the new maximum and an additional 28% will have their benefits go up. The department explained that after the state repaid its $7 billion federal Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund loan debt as part of the 2025 state budget, more benefits can be doled out, and businesses will save on the Interest Assessment Surcharge. Minimum benefits are not expected to increase.

The state’s trust fund was swiftly depleted as both the unemployment rate and the number of claims skyrocketed in 2020, reaching nearly 400,000 claims one week in April of t

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