2024 Tax Rates for Unemployment Insurance and Temporary Disability Insurance

Published on Thursday, December 14, 2023

CRANSTON, R.I. – Today, the Department of Labor and Training (DLT) announced the 2024 tax rates for the unemployment insurance (UI) and temporary disability insurance (TDI) programs.

Effective January 1, 2024, unemployment insurance tax rates will remain at Schedule G, with rates ranging from 1.1 percent to 9.7 percent. These rates will be reduced by 0.21 percent to offset the Job Development Assessment. The unemployment insurance tax schedule is determined using a statutory formula based on the ratio of the balance of the state’s employment security fund to the total twelve-month payroll of employers subject to the contribution provisions of the Employment Security Act.  

The new employer rate will be 1.00 percent for calendar year 2024.  This includes the 0.21 percent Job Development Assessment. The 2023 new employer rate was 1.09 percent including the 0.21 percent Job Development Assessment.

The 2024 UI Taxable Wage Base for most employers will be $29,200 in 2024, an increase of $1,000 or 3.5 percent from the 2023 taxable wage base of $28,200. For employers at the highest tax rate, the UI taxable wage base is set $1,500 higher and will be $30,700 in 2024. The UI Taxable Wages Base is set at 46.5 percent of the average annual wage of workers employed by employers subject to the contribution provisions (i.e., taxable employers) of the Employment Security Act.

The TDI Taxable Wage Base, which is equal to the annual earnings needed by an individual to qualify for the maximum weekly benefit rate, will be $87,000 in 2024, an increase of $3,000 (3.6%) from the 2023 taxable wage base of $84,000. The TDI contribution rate will be set at 1.2 percent for calendar year 2024.  The maximum TDI contribution rate will be $1,044 in 2024, an increase of $120 or $2.31 a week from the 2023 maximum contribution of $924. An individual working full time earning the minimum wage of $14.00 an hour will pay a total of $349.44 in TDI contributions in 2024 or $6.72 a week.

Unemployment Insurance provides temporary income support to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and have sufficient wages in the base period to meet the monetary requirements. Worker benefits are funded entirely from state and federal UI taxes paid by Rhode Island employers.

TDI protects workers against wage loss due to a non-work-related illness or injury, and through Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI), which provides up to six weeks of payments to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill family member. TCI is not a separate state program; TCI is part of the TDI program. TDI is paid by employees, not employers, through a payroll tax.

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