The total cost is borne by the employer in all but a few states. Each state has a sliding scale of rates. The standard rate is set at 6.2% of taxable payroll in most states. But employers with records of less unemployment (that is, with fewer unemployment
benefits paid to their former workers) are rewarded with rates lower than the standard state rate.
During periods of high unemployment in a state, federal-state extended benefits are available to workers who have exhausted their regular benefits. An unemployed worker may receive benefits equal to the weekly benefit he received under the state program
for one half the weeks of his basic entitlement to benefits up to a maximum (including regular benefits) of 39 weeks.
