Glossary

Experience rate

The state unemployment tax rate assigned to an established employer based on its own history of unemployment claims.

New employers start on a standard rate because they have no history. After enough quarters of payroll, the state recalculates the rate from the claims charged against that employer's account relative to its taxable payroll, within a statutory minimum and maximum. An employer that has never had a claim can fall well below the new-employer rate; one with frequent layoffs can rise well above it. A calculator that has not been told your rate is using the new-employer figure, which is the only one that can be looked up rather than assumed.

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