New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance Program

The state of New Hampshire relies on New Hampshire Employment Security to provide unemployment insurance to those who meet the necessary requirements. Unemployment insurance provides unemployment benefits and cash compensation to qualifying unemployed and underemployed workers. This joint state and federal program protects families and individuals who may not have the financial resources to afford gaps between work.

The system works to provide financial help to individuals who are out of work, while also providing employment resources, like training and job search opportunities, to help those individuals find a new employment situation. To apply for unemployment benefits in New Hampshire, you must provide wage information and a history of recent work. If you qualify for unemployment compensation, you will receive the compensation by check.

The agency responsible for providing these benefits to qualifying claimants in the state of New Hampshire is New Hampshire Employment Security (NHES). As of August 2016, New Hampshire boasted an unadjusted unemployment rate of 2.9 percent, which is lower than  the national unadjusted unemployment rate of about 5 percent.

The NHES is able to provide unemployment insurance by levying taxes on New Hampshire-based employers. The money paid into the system by each employer is not taken out of employee paychecks. The NHES is comprised of three bureaus: the Unemployment Compensation Bureau (UCB), the Employment Service Bureau and Operations (ESB), and the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau (ELMI).