Prevailing Unemployment Insurance Wages

Overview

These wages comply with the New York State Department of Labor formula for establishing Prevailing Wages under Unemployment Insurance (UI) law. The wages are updated annually, based on the findings of the semi-annual Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey of employers. The New York State Department of Labor conducts the OEWS survey in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The information is provided to help employers and unemployed job seekers understand the job titles and wage rates that will determine prevailing wages in local areas across New York State. The UI "cutoff wage" is a short term for wages that are 10 percent below the UI Prevailing Wage. Wages that fail to meet the "cutoff wage" or are below the minimum wage (based on the offering company's location, size, and industry) may be refused by job seekers without forfeiture of their UI benefits for prevailing wage reasons.

The minimum wage schedule is available here: https://dol.ny.gov/minimum-wage-0

As a result of using 3 years of sampled data, some occupations have UI prevailing wage estimates that fall below the New York State minimum wage. In these cases, the estimates are increased to equal the current local base minimum wage. 

These wages are to be used for UI purposes only. They are not to be used, for example, for prevailing wages for Public Work or Foreign Labor Certification purposes.

Effective Date: 01/01/2024

Using the Dashboard

The dashboard below can be used to explore the data.

  • UI Prevailing Wages – shows the UI prevailing hourly wage, cutoff wage, and annual wage for occupations in the selected county in New York State.

To learn more about how to use Tableau and download data, check out our guide Tableau Tips for the Web.

If you are having trouble accessing the data provided below because you are using assistive technology, please reach out to your local labor market analyst for assistance.

UI Prevailing Wage