How do you get unemployment benefits in New Jersey?
Unemployment Insurance pays 60% of the average weekly wage you earned in your base year, up to $905 a week in 2026. File online as soon as your work stops, because your claim is dated the Sunday of the week you file.
Apply for Unemployment Insurance online
Central New Jersey Reemployment Call Center: 732-761-2020
New Jersey pays Unemployment Insurance to people who lose a job through no fault of their own, such as an employer's lack of work or a layoff due to downsizing. The Division of Unemployment Insurance decides and pays every claim.
Where to start
- File in the week your work stops, because a New Jersey claim is dated the Sunday of that week. Filing by Saturday at midnight gives you credit back to that Sunday. How to file in New Jersey covers the online account, the call centers, and what to have ready.
- Your base year earnings and the reason your job ended both have to qualify. Who qualifies covers the earnings tests, quitting, being fired, and working part-time.
- Certify for each week you want paid, and only after that week has ended. Weekly claims covers the certification questions and the work search.
If you would rather talk to someone
A Reemployment Call Center takes new claims by phone, region by region. Offices and phone numbers lists the centers and the numbers to call.
New Jersey unemployment guides
- How to fileFiling online or by phone, what to have ready, and the first weeks
- Who qualifiesThe base year, the earnings tests, quitting, being fired, and part-time work
- How much it paysThe weekly benefit rate, dependency benefits, and part-time weeks
- How long it lastsThe 26-week cap, the benefit year, extensions, and running out
- Weekly claims and work searchCertifying each week, when payments land, and the work search rules
- Denials, appeals, and overpaymentsThe 21-day deadline, the hearing, overpayments, waivers, and fraud
- TaxesYour 1099-G, federal tax, the state exemption, and 10% withholding
- Offices and phone numbersThe claims lines, their hours, and every One-Stop Career Center by city
- DisabilityTemporary disability, family leave, and the during-unemployment programs
- JobsThe state job bank, One-Stop career counselors, and no-cost training
- Questions and answersShort answers to the questions that fall between the guides