NY unemployment benefits cap spikes 72% to $869 per week. Here's why

New Yorkers who lose their jobs stand to get more generous aid from Albany under a 72% jump in the top unemployment pay that took effect this month.

New York hoisted the payment cap to $869 per week from $504, the state's first increase in six years after a flood of claims overwhelmed the system during the pandemic. The new limit puts New York near the top in the U.S. for unemployment pay, behind a $1,105 maximum in Massachusetts and $1,152 cap in the State of Washington .

The increase was included in the state budget in May as part of a deal with employers and labor unions to end a huge, pandemic-fueled unemployment debt. New York used its reserves to pay off that $7 billion debt to the federal government, enabling it then to raise unemployment benefits for the first time since 2019