May 8, 2025
Enacted SFY 2025-26 Budget Eliminates the Unemployment Trust Fund debt
Speaker Carl Heastie and Assembly Labor Committee Chair Harry B. Bronson today announced that Enacted State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-26 Budget includes $8 billion to eliminate the Unemployment Trust Fund debt.
“The Assembly Majority fought hard for this provision to be included in the budget as we understand the critical relief this will provide to our small businesses,” said Speaker Heastie. “By reducing their burden and providing additional coverage to our hardworking families we’re standing by those that make New York a place we’re all proud to call home.”
“By eliminating the Unemployment Trust Fund debt, we can provide much-needed relief to businesses of all sizes and raise unemployment benefits to keep pace with the cost of living so that all New Yorkers can make ends meet and continue to provide for their families while searching for their next jobs,” said Assemblymember Bronson. “Our small businesses and hardworking families are the backbone of New York’s economy, and this budget win affirms the Assembly’s commitment to making things easier and more affordable, ensuring both can thrive in communities throughout the state.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a million people lost their jobs at no fault of their own. Paying unemployment insurance (UI) to these New Yorkers caused the unemployment trust fund to go into more than $10 billion of debt to the federal government. This debt has been, and normally would be, paid by the employers. The $8 billion secured in the SFY 2025-26 budget will be used to pay back the debt owed to the federal government, lowering the rates and eliminating the interest payments that New York businesses currently pay into the UI system. By eliminating the debt, New Yorkers that lose their job will be able to receive UI benefits that keep up with the cost of living, as the maximum benefit is currently set at 2019 levels.