Maximum Duration

• The maximum duration for unemployment compensation benefits, as regulated by the U.S. Department of Labor, is 26 weeks, which is about six months. Individual states coordinate these unemployment programs, dispersing benefits and deciding the length and amount of benefits. States are able to make their own rules regarding the length of the benefits period.
  
  The duration of an unemployed worker's benefits period is based on the income earned by the worker during what is known as a base year. The base year is four consecutive quarters, or one year, over the previous five economic quarters during which the unemployed worker was fully employed.
  
  

Continued Eligibility

• The state unemployment compensation program where you reside will decide your maximum duration of benefits, but in order to stay eligible you must continue to file claims on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Claims must report how much money you earned in the past week or any job offers which you received. If necessary, you must appear for any interviews scheduled by your state's unemployment services. Failure to attend these interviews may stop your benefits payments.
  
  

Extended Benefits Rules

• During periods of high unemployment, a state can decide to enact federal rules on extended benefits that increase the maximum number of weeks for which unemployment can be awarded. Federal extended benefits rules increase the normal maximum of 26 weeks by 13 weeks for a total of 39 maximum weeks, or about nine months. Weekly unemployment compensation amounts are the same during the extended period as they are during the normal unemployment period.
  
  In the past, states have enacted extended benefits periods that go even farther than 39 weeks for an individual worker. In 2009, the maximum unemployment period was 99 weeks in some states due to high unemployment rates triggering those increases.
  
  

Geography

• Although the unemployment compensation program for workers is federally mandated, each state regulates its own rules on the maximum amounts for benefits and duration of benefits. As of 2010, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Ohio, Alaska and Minnesota all offered a maximum benefits duration of 79 weeks. The shortest unemployment benefits duration, 46 weeks, were offered by Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Louisiana and Nebraska.