How to Calculate Unemployment Benefits for Kentucky

If you are out of work in the Bluegrass State and intend to apply for unemployment benefits, you can determine the amount of benefits you will receive before filing your unemployment claim. Kentucky’s Office of Employment and Training’s (OET) website features a weekly unemployment benefits calculator that uses quarterly income date earned during a base year to provide a projection for potential unemployment benefit amounts. Keep in mind that the projected amount can change due to factors such as dependents and deductible income.

Determine your base year using a calendar and the date you intend to file your unemployment claim. Count backwards 15 months, or five calendar quarters, from the week of the date you intend to file your unemployment claim, and use the first four quarters, or 12 months, of this 15-month period as your base year. For example, if you intend to file your unemployment claim on January 19, 2010, your base year ranges from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009.

Gather pay stubs, income statements and W-2s from all places of employment during the base year established in Step 1. Add up your income from all employers according to each quarter, or every three-month period. Starting with the previous example, quarter one will be from October 2008 to December 2008, quarter two ranges from January 2009 to March 2009, quarter three is from April 2009 to June 2009 and quarter 4 ranges from July 2009 to September 2009.

Visit Kentucky’s OET online unemployment benefits estimator, and using the data complied in step two, enter your quarter wages for the first, second, third and fourth quarter of the base year (see Resources).

Press the “Go” button to receive an estimate for your weekly benefit amount in addition to a determination of your eligibility to receive unemployment based on your wages and a projection for your maximum benefit amount.