Maximum Unemployment Benefit Rate Increases 2.6%

Connecticut’s maximum weekly unemployment benefit rate will increase 2.6% to $721 from Oct. 1, 2023.

Changes to the weekly maximum benefit rate are calculated using the average wage of all workers in the state for the year between April and March.

Connecticut workers earned an average weekly wage of $1,588 between April 30, 2022 and March 31, 2023.

The latest increase applies only to new unemployment claims, with continuing claims unaffected.

The maximum rate will remain at $721 through Oct. 1, 2028 following long-overdue reforms to the unemployment system that the legislature approved in 2021.

Those reforms were designed to achieve long term solvency for the state’s troubled unemployment fund, which was further weakened by historic pandemic-related unemployment claims in 2020.

The wide-ranging reform package was the product of negotiations between the business community, organized labor, the Lamont administration, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers. 

Unemployment eligibility and weekly benefit amounts are determined using wage and employment history, number of dependents, and other factors that are unique to applicants.

Department of Labor officials say the state currently has about 25,000 unemployment filers, with an average weekly benefit rate of $409.