Unemployment insurance programs have specific rules about who can receive benefits and under what circumstances. These requirements exist because the programs are designed for particular situations—job loss through no fault of your own, sufficient work history, active job search—and different states set their own thresholds. Understanding what these rules are helps you know whether a program might explore to your situation and what information you'll need to gather.

The articles in this section explain the main categories of requirements: how much you need to have worked, what counts as losing a job versus leaving voluntarily, income limits for certain programs, and how states define things like "able and willing to work." You'll learn what documentation matters, how work history gets calculated, and why some situations disqualify people from certain programs.