US – Millionaires have received $29.8 million in unemployment benefit or 0.03% of total report finds

Under the federal-state Unemployment Insurance (UI) system, there is currently no prohibition on the receipt of UI benefits by high-income unemployed workers. States, which determine many of the eligibility requirements for UI benefits, may not restrict eligibility based on individual or household income.

Recent Congresses, however, have considered proposals to restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to high-income individuals. These proposals define high income in a variety of ways— often prohibiting UI benefits for “millionaires.”

Table 2 shows the amount of unemployment benefit income received by tax filers by AGI category for tax years 2010 and 2011, where incomes are not adjusted for inflation. As shown in the table, the amount of unemployment benefit income received by tax filers with AGI of
$1 million or more is relatively small. For tax year 2010, tax filers with at least $1 million in AGI reported receiving $40.0 million in unemployment benefit income, which represents 0.03% of total reported unemployment benefit income. Similarly, for tax year 2011, tax filers with at least $1 million in AGI reported receiving $29.8 million in unemployment benefit income, which also represents 0.03% of total reported unemployment benefit income.