Do Millionaires Qualify for Unemployment Benefits? You Bet They Do

I was hanging around some friends the other day and the topic came up of whether or not millionaires are eligible for unemployment compensation. Not being a millionaire myself, I didn’t know the answer and nobody else did, either, since they too were not millionaires.

So I did some research and found an article in the December 2012 AARP Magazine about the topic.  Millionaires, like all employed people, pay into the system and yes they do take out of it as well from time to time. A Congressional Research Service study found that nearly 2400 tax filers reporting annual income of $1 million or more tapped into the system for more than $21 million back in 2009.

That total accounted for only .02% of the 11.3 million tax filers who applied for unemployment benefits that year. Yet of the 83.5 billion dollars paid out in benefits that year, 21 million went to unemployed millionaires.

So, yes is the answer as to whether millionaires can file for unemployment benefits. Isn't this a great country?