Unemployment_Benefits_By_State
00:00:00.000 | Hello everybody, it's Sam from Financial Samurai and in this crazy time full of lockdowns uncertainty and
00:00:07.040 | Unemployment. I wanted to talk about the states with the highest and lowest unemployment benefits. It was a really eye-opening
00:00:14.720 | exercise for me to research and to understand how much states
00:00:20.000 | provide or don't provide and this unemployment information by state will also
00:00:25.280 | Provide you with some information to make better decisions on whether to relocate for a job in a different state
00:00:32.080 | Because if you go to a state that has poor unemployment benefits, you might want to demand some higher benefits and a higher salary
00:00:39.640 | Now if you relocate to a state that has high unemployment benefits
00:00:44.800 | Well, you can be more flexible on your terms and you can also feel better
00:00:50.560 | About going to that state just in case you lose your job. Let's start off with some sad, but unfortunately realistic
00:00:57.120 | Unemployment numbers that could come out by the end of the summer 2020 or maybe by the end of the year frankly as
00:01:04.920 | Of May 2020 there are 30 million Americans who have filed for unemployment benefits now
00:01:12.320 | That's out of a hundred sixty million working population
00:01:16.160 | So that's almost a 20% unemployment rate now if we calculate
00:01:20.320 | 3 million unemployment claims a week given the lockdowns will continue throughout May and maybe June hopefully not
00:01:28.360 | We're talking at least 40 million unemployed and if we talk about the jobs not fully coming back
00:01:35.840 | The numbers really could hover in the tens of millions
00:01:39.500 | Let's say 10 to 20 million by the end of the year even as the economy
00:01:45.200 | Rebounds and the lockdowns end. So these are huge huge numbers and thanks to the CARES Act
00:01:51.560 | It has increased unemployment benefits by $600 a week through
00:01:57.340 | July 31st 2020 and you will get unemployment benefits not the enhanced ones
00:02:04.420 | But just regular unemployment benefits through the end of the year December 31st 2020 now who knows what will happen on July 31st 2020
00:02:13.440 | Maybe the government will continue to enhance unemployment benefits of $600 a week if things are still pretty dire
00:02:19.720 | Because they did promise they're gonna do everything possible to ensure that the economy doesn't go under so who knows
00:02:27.260 | But on the flip side you actually don't want the government to provide these enhanced unemployment benefits for too long because that means the economy
00:02:35.240 | Is really down in the dumps. So let's look at the top 25 states with the highest unemployment benefits
00:02:42.320 | Unemployment benefits are basically paid out by the employer into an unemployment benefits fund and then the benefits are paid out by the state
00:02:49.840 | For about 26 weeks is the average but some states only pay around 20 weeks
00:02:55.280 | But the average is about 26 weeks 25 26 weeks and then after 26 weeks the federal government kicks in
00:03:02.260 | Unemployment benefits are basically calculated by week and you can get your benefits usually every two weeks
00:03:10.000 | Maybe sometimes every once a week, but every two weeks is usually the norm and it takes
00:03:15.580 | Not on anywhere from two weeks to six weeks to first get your unemployment benefits
00:03:20.640 | Right now everything is backlogged so you can understand that sometimes you just can't even get through but you got to keep on trying
00:03:27.600 | And don't worry
00:03:28.600 | I think a lot of states will provide retroactive unemployment benefits and it's not like you're gonna miss out and get cut off
00:03:35.040 | So let's start off with Massachusetts the number one highest state for unemployment benefits at eight hundred twenty three dollars a week
00:03:43.040 | So the normal monthly maximum if we use four weeks per month is three thousand two hundred ninety two dollars
00:03:50.780 | That's pretty good
00:03:53.160 | But remember you got to pay taxes on that and if you add in the cares act weekly bonus of six hundred dollars a week
00:03:59.840 | You could add two thousand four hundred dollars a month
00:04:03.600 | for a total weekly benefit of fourteen hundred twenty three dollars and a total monthly benefit of
00:04:10.360 | five thousand six hundred ninety two dollars
00:04:13.480 | So the top five states are all around five thousand and up and they are Massachusetts
00:04:21.240 | Washington, Minnesota, New Jersey and Connecticut
00:04:25.680 | Hawaii the total monthly benefit with the cares act is four thousand nine hundred ninety two and
00:04:32.600 | the worst of the top 25 states provides a benefit of
00:04:37.240 | 4,276 with the cares act enhanced benefits that state is Nevada
00:04:43.120 | Normally, they would provide monthly benefits of only eighteen hundred seventy six dollars, which is not great
00:04:50.120 | But it's not that bad. Now these numbers are per person
00:04:54.960 | So if you have a two working adult family household and these two individuals both lost their jobs
00:05:03.280 | Theoretically if you're in one of the top 25 states, you could get total monthly unemployment benefits with the cares act of between
00:05:11.480 | 8,500 to
00:05:15.080 | $11,300 a month. I
00:05:18.200 | Would say that most of you maybe eighty ninety percent of you could live just fine off
00:05:23.920 | One person's unemployment benefits if you're just one person or family of four living off two people's unemployment benefits
00:05:31.600 | If they were making that much now
00:05:34.400 | Hopefully you have some savings to buttress that any shortfall if you need more
00:05:38.560 | But that is a pretty decent amount of money and we have to thank the government for being so aggressive and so proactive
00:05:45.160 | Also, we have to recognize there is a correlation between the amount of qualified income earned
00:05:50.280 | The unemployment benefit amount and the cost of living per state in other words higher cost of living states generally have higher unemployment benefits
00:05:58.380 | however
00:05:59.680 | Some states such as Minnesota, Oregon, North Dakota, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas and Ohio
00:06:05.000 | Seem to have more generous unemployment benefits than their cost of living would dictate for example
00:06:11.400 | The median household income in North Dakota is about sixty one thousand eight hundred dollars
00:06:16.000 | However, you now get maximum unemployment benefits of about fifty nine thousand three hundred dollars
00:06:23.480 | So that's pretty good. If I was a North Dakota and didn't have a job
00:06:27.760 | I would be honest. I would probably take those unemployment benefits until July 31st or
00:06:34.000 | Until I found the absolute absolute perfect job and that's really hard to do right now when things are locked up and there's so much
00:06:40.960 | Uncertainty and companies are having hiring freezes. What can you do but do the rational thing in my opinion the state?
00:06:48.120 | You want to best become unemployed is in Hawaii. Not only is Hawaii amazing place sunny warm
00:06:55.440 | Lots of free outdoor activities. Hawaii also offers six hundred forty eight dollars a week in maximum unemployment benefits
00:07:01.880 | Due to the cares act the unemployed get twelve hundred forty eight dollars a week maximum or four thousand nine hundred ninety two dollars per month
00:07:09.960 | So even receiving the normal two thousand five hundred ninety two dollars a month and unemployment benefits is pretty good
00:07:16.040 | Think about what each state offers because it's important for where you want to work where you want to retire
00:07:23.080 | And where you want to kind of transition your life depending on what stage in your life you are in now
00:07:29.280 | Let's look at the states with the lowest unemployment benefits
00:07:32.200 | Although the amounts are much lower than the states with the highest unemployment benefits
00:07:36.480 | The benefit amounts are also correlated again with the cost of living per state
00:07:41.120 | So for example, Puerto Rico is the number one lowest quote state for unemployment benefits at a hundred ninety dollars a week maximum
00:07:50.360 | So the normal monthly max is seven hundred sixty dollars
00:07:53.360 | But with the cares act not discriminating against anybody in any state of six hundred dollars a week
00:07:59.320 | The total monthly with cares act pay is three thousand one hundred sixty dollars
00:08:04.680 | Now if you think about that, that's pretty good because the median household income in Puerto Rico is roughly twenty thousand five hundred a year
00:08:12.560 | or
00:08:14.360 | seventeen hundred eight dollars a month
00:08:16.360 | Therefore you can now earn
00:08:20.040 | Eighty-five percent more than the median household income through unemployment benefits
00:08:24.960 | So let's talk about the other top states with the lowest unemployment benefits. They are, Mississippi
00:08:32.640 | Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama
00:08:35.360 | Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina
00:08:40.400 | Michigan, Georgia and so forth and if you want to see the full list
00:08:44.440 | You can just click over to the post in the show notes and you see two charts with the highest and lowest unemployment benefits by state
00:08:51.680 | It's really interesting to see this list because I live in California and I thought getting four hundred fifty dollars a week was pretty good
00:08:58.680 | But guess what?
00:09:00.720 | Compared to everyone else four hundred fifty dollars a week in San Francisco is not very good at all
00:09:06.160 | So when you adjust for the cost of living
00:09:08.440 | unfortunately, I think California
00:09:11.280 | the District of Columbia and Arizona
00:09:14.320 | Provide the least amount of unemployment benefits for how expensive it is
00:09:18.640 | Now there's another category here states with highest unemployment benefits with dependents
00:09:24.940 | Ah, it actually changes if you have kids or not
00:09:28.280 | That's a pretty logical move by states and it shows which states are kind of on the ball and pro-family
00:09:35.840 | Let's look at the six states with special enhanced unemployment benefits for dependents Connecticut
00:09:43.320 | Weekly max normal is six hundred forty nine dollars. It goes up to seven hundred forty nine dollars with dependents
00:09:49.080 | Okay, hundred dollars more a week. Not bad, Illinois
00:09:52.680 | kind of a disaster in terms of
00:09:55.640 | state budget and property taxes and so forth, but
00:10:00.000 | The weekly max normal is four hundred eighty four dollars and you got six hundred sixty seven dollars with dependents
00:10:06.800 | That's almost a two hundred dollar increase now, Massachusetts
00:10:10.320 | Number one state with the highest unemployment benefits at eight hundred twenty three dollars max normal a week
00:10:15.560 | It goes up to twelve hundred thirty four dollars with dependents. What a
00:10:20.640 | 50% bump four hundred dollars more. I mean folks recognize recognize that if you find a job in Boston
00:10:29.720 | Or somewhere in Massachusetts you want to start a family
00:10:33.720 | Massachusetts is number one if you ever get unemployed
00:10:37.960 | Ohio pretty darn good four hundred eighty dollars max normal a week with dependents. It goes up to six hundred forty seven
00:10:44.880 | Pennsylvania
00:10:47.080 | Not good
00:10:48.560 | $572 max normal weight goes up by eight bucks a week to 580 and then Rhode Island not bad, Rhode Island
00:10:56.100 | It is ranked one of the top states to buy real estate from a previous post
00:11:01.240 | The max normal week is five hundred eighty six dollars and it goes up to eight hundred
00:11:06.760 | sixty seven dollars with dependents
00:11:08.760 | Now again, this is pre cares act
00:11:11.760 | So you add on the cares act enhanced unemployment benefits of six hundred dollars a week and then boom shakalaka
00:11:18.420 | You've got a pretty good
00:11:20.640 | Unemployment benefits amount there are now
00:11:23.560 | 37 states that provide unemployment benefits that are at least the average
00:11:30.200 | Or up to 125 percent higher than the average wage
00:11:35.300 | So if you think about that rationally the people in these 37 states if they've lost their jobs should absolutely
00:11:41.640 | Apply for unemployment benefits you paid into it
00:11:44.780 | It's deserved and you should probably use it use it until the enhanced unemployment benefits runs out right now
00:11:52.980 | July 31st 2020 but it could be at an indefinite time
00:11:57.480 | Who knows and some will talk about you know moral reasons not to look again
00:12:03.240 | you paid into it as part of your wage as an unemployment benefits insurance program per state and
00:12:08.240 | Life is tough right now. Life is full of lockdowns and uncertainty at the very least
00:12:15.100 | What you can do is get your finances order get some benefits after all those taxes
00:12:20.720 | You've paid for all those years and all the hard work you've given to your company who's laid you off
00:12:25.440 | There should be absolutely no shame in taking unemployment benefits
00:12:30.100 | So don't feel that shame and don't let anybody else shame you otherwise if you have not lost your job yet
00:12:35.760 | But you are thinking or you have been thinking about doing something new for a long time
00:12:39.980 | Now is probably the best time ever in a long time in at least
00:12:44.780 | 10 years to try to engineer your layoff in order to get a severance package and the enhanced unemployment benefits
00:12:52.040 | Bosses right now are stressed out. They're being told by their bosses
00:12:56.660 | Okay, you've got to cut 10% of your team because we got to get through this or you got to furlough them
00:13:02.040 | Or you got to cut their wages by 20 to 50 percent. It is really really stressful to be a boss right now
00:13:07.240 | I've talked to CEOs my friends who are CEOs and other small business owners. They don't want to lay anybody off
00:13:13.460 | There's a lot of social pressure for not laying anybody off. That is just it's just tough, right?
00:13:18.500 | So if you can help ameliorate your bosses angst by saying hey, I'm willing to get laid off
00:13:25.380 | Do you think we can do some kind of severance package? I've been a good employee
00:13:29.180 | I've been here for three four or five ten years
00:13:31.660 | This is your opportunity. This is your opportunity to have that conversation because it is so
00:13:37.900 | Understandable right now. It's just not out of the blue. Hey, it's a bull market what you're doing good. Wait, what you want to leave?
00:13:44.300 | No, no, no, no right now. This is a reset
00:13:47.060 | This is beyond strange times
00:13:49.140 | Have the discussion to try to negotiate a severance if you've been wanting to leave for a while and who knows
00:13:55.260 | Let's say you get your severance you get your unemployment benefits
00:13:58.100 | You have time to breathe and relax and stand still for a while in this crazy competitive world
00:14:03.820 | You might find something you like to do that is different from work because all you've been thinking all these years is just work work
00:14:11.180 | Work clients, whatever getting these things done. You finally have time to think about other things time for yourself
00:14:17.700 | I really think you'll surprise yourself
00:14:19.700 | If you take a step back to think about your life to think about what you want to do
00:14:24.580 | I left in 2012. I was a little bit uncertain. Yes, I had financial samurai that I started in 2009
00:14:30.540 | But of course, I didn't know exactly for sure whether financial samurai is something that I wanted to do
00:14:36.260 | For the rest of my life, but here I am almost 11 years later, and I think
00:14:41.580 | It's a pretty good gig doesn't matter whether it does well or not. I just like to write I like to record
00:14:48.220 | I like to connect and I like to share some thoughts so that I can prevent people from
00:14:53.900 | Engaging in sub optimal financial behavior or avoiding landmines that I stepped on when I was in my younger days
00:15:00.100 | If I could rewind time to when I was 32 years old
00:15:03.220 | And if I was in a lockdown period at 32 years old, I would absolutely try to plant my flag on the internet
00:15:10.380 | The internet has shown its resiliency because hey look in a lockdown period you can shut off financial samurai
00:15:17.860 | You can't shut off these websites
00:15:19.380 | Now, of course if you have massive massive costs you might want to shut it down
00:15:23.020 | But for the most part running a website is really cheap and easy and free
00:15:27.060 | So I would try try something online because all online cannot be touched from offline activity
00:15:33.620 | And if you have enough investment income
00:15:35.740 | Well, maybe you can use this time as a test drive for early retirement
00:15:41.100 | It's kind of like early retirement, but it's not really because your liberties have been taken away by
00:15:46.500 | These governors and mayors who I don't know it's up to you to decide but after seven weeks of quarantine, I
00:15:53.740 | Think there should be some flexibility here, but hey, let's not get into that in conclusion
00:15:59.660 | Know that the unemployment benefits out there are strong and they are stronger in some states than others
00:16:07.600 | Before you relocate for a job think about what type of unemployment benefits and other safety nets they have
00:16:14.260 | The benefits are also indicative of the attitude the government the local government has
00:16:19.280 | For families and for individuals it just permeates through the government
00:16:24.700 | I know Hawaii is a very blue state and it's very family oriented
00:16:29.620 | And it really wants to help as many people as possible. Just kind of get ahead
00:16:33.980 | That's why Hawaii is one of the top states
00:16:37.460 | I want to relocate to but it's also because my family's there so find your favorite state
00:16:43.220 | Think about it. If you're in your existing state look at the charts and see what kind of benefits you can get
00:16:48.500 | Please get those benefits. This is the time to take advantage of these benefits
00:16:53.700 | Reset your life think about what you want to do and stay safe and strong everyone
00:16:59.000 | I miss you guys
00:17:00.140 | And if you enjoyed this ad free podcast, I'd love a positive review and for you to share it with your friends
00:17:05.860 | Take care. Stay safe. Be strong and good luck