How this calculator works
The CARES Act of March 2020 created a temporary federal supplement to state unemployment benefits called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. For weeks of unemployment between 5 April 2020 and 31 July 2020 it paid $600 a week on top of whatever the state paid, without regard to the person's previous wage. That made the total unusually generous: many lower-wage workers received more on unemployment than they had earned working. The supplement was fully federally funded, while the underlying benefit came from the state programme and was set by the state formula, typically a fraction of previous wages up to a cap. The CARES Act also added 13 weeks of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation for people who had exhausted their regular benefits, and created Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for the self-employed and gig workers who were normally ineligible. This calculator models the weekly state benefit plus the $600 supplement over the number of weeks you enter, and shows the effect when the supplement ends. It does not model the temporary eligibility expansions or the state-specific formulas. For a claim that ran into the later programmes, enter the weeks that actually carried the $600 supplement separately from the weeks that did not.
Formula
Weekly total while the supplement applied = state weekly benefit + $600. Weekly total after it ended = state weekly benefit. Total state benefits = state weekly benefit x weeks. Total supplement = $600 x weeks with the supplement. Total benefits = state total + supplement total.
Worked example
A worker receiving $350 a week from the state for 39 weeks, with the $600 supplement for the first 17 weeks. During those 17 weeks the weekly total is $950, and for the remaining 22 weeks it is $350. The state pays $13,650 and the supplement adds $10,200, for a total of $23,850 over the claim. Without the supplement the same claim would pay $13,650.
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Frequently asked questions
Was the $600 supplement taxable?
In the United States, unemployment benefits including the federal supplement were taxable income at the federal level, and some states also taxed them. No tax was withheld unless the claimant asked for it, which caught many people out at filing time.
Did everyone get the full $600?
Everyone eligible for at least one dollar of unemployment benefits received the supplement, regardless of their previous wage, in the states that administered it as the law required. There was no means test on top of unemployment eligibility.
When did the supplement end?
The $600 supplement expired after the week ending 25 July 2020, with a final payment for the week ending 31 July 2020 in some states because of how weeks were dated. Later programmes paid smaller amounts under different rules.
What came after the CARES Act supplement?
Lost Wages Assistance paid $300 or $400 a week for a limited number of weeks, and later legislation paid $300 a week through early September 2021. Those programmes had different eligibility rules and are not modelled here.
Does Canada have an equivalent?
Canada created the Canada Emergency Response Benefit in 2020, which paid a flat $2,000 for a four-week period rather than adding a supplement to an existing state benefit. It is a different design, not a direct counterpart.