Unemployment Compensation
Max Weekly Benefit Amt.
Max Weeks of Benefits
Max Benefit Amount
Unemployment Benefits Compensation
Your unemployment benefit amounts are calculated based on the amount of wages you earned with an insured employer during your base period. In Louisiana, the base period is the last 18 months before you filed for unemployment. Every three months, employers report wages they paid during that period, called a quarter. There are six quarters in a base period. Your benefit amount is determined by how much income you earned during the first four months of the base period. You must have earned $1,200 or more during your total base period, and at least 1.5 times more in your total base period than you made in the quarter that you earned the most money. You can estimate how much your Maximum Benefit Amount and Weekly Benefit Amount might be based on your earnings, but the best way to find out how much your unemployment benefit amount will be is to apply for unemployment insurance benefits.
Calculating Louisiana Unemployment Benefit Amounts
Determine Your Weekly Benefit Amount
To calculate your Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA), add up all the money you earned during your highest-earning quarter. Divide that number by 25, and round down to the nearest whole dollar to get your WBA.
Example: Highest earning quarter is $5,000
$5,000 divided by 26 = $192.31
WBA = $192
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Determine Your Maximum Benefit Amount (MBA)
To determine the Maximum Benefit Amount of unemployment insurance benefits you are eligible to collect during your benefit year, multiply your WBA by 26.
Example: WBA = $192
Your MBA will be $4,992 over the 52 weeks of your claim year.
Your claim year begins the Sunday before the date you filed your initial claim to collect unemployment insurance benefits.