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Unemployment payments increased after Hurricane Helene

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Gov. Roy Cooper in western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. Courtesy of the Office of the NC Governor

By executive order — and with unanimous agreement from the North Carolina Council of State — Gov. Roy Cooper has issued an emergency executive order authorizing an increase in the amount of weekly unemployment payments available to North Carolinians in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

“As I’ve traveled for days around western North Carolina I’ve heard concern from many small business owners about their employees who are unemployed because their businesses are temporarily closed,” Cooper said. “This Executive Order will increase unemployment benefits and help ease the financial burden for impacted North Carolinians as they work to recover from the storm.”

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According to a press release about the executive order, weekly unemployment benefits will increase from a maximum of $350 a week to a maximum of $600 a week. The executive order is tied to the State of Emergency for Hurricane Helene, and it will remain in effect until the end of the emergency.

State unemployment benefits will still be capped at 12 weeks, but workers who lived or worked in the impacted North Carolina counties and are out of work due to the disaster will qualify for up to 26 weeks of federal benefits, to be paid through March 29, 2025 under the federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program.

Federal disaster unemployment assistance is available in 25 counties following Hurricane Helene

While federal law requires the elevated state payment to apply statewide, according to the press release, the increased benefits would largely go to workers from counties impacted by Helene, with unemployment data through Oct. 13 showing that workers from those counties make up 79% of new claims — 19,735 — since the disaster. 

The Division of Employment Security estimates that it may take between two and three weeks for impacted individuals to see the impact in their weekly benefit checks. The benefits for eligible claimants will be retroactive to Sept. 29, 2024 and adjustment payments will be issued for benefit weeks going back to that date.