Unemployment Insurance in EU->Germany

Unemployment insurance in Germany

Type of scheme

How to join? Compulsory Unemployment Insurance. You will automatically be enrolled in unemployment insurance when you start working in Germany.

Contribution: Contributions are paid 50% by the employer and 50% by the employee.

Who is covered? All employees (including trainees).

Minijobs are not subject to social security contributions. Minijobs are:

• employment relationships in which monthly earnings do not exceed a certain limit (in 2025 €556 per month) or
• short-term employment where the employment is limited from the outset to no more than three months or a total of 70 working days in a calendar year and – if the monthly salary exceeds €556 – the employment is not carried out professionally. This also applies to seasonal workers.
  You are considered professionally employed if you depend on the income from your job, meaning you belong to the group of employees. So the basic rule is: if you work professionally, you cannot be employed on a short-term basis.

When determining whether the three-month or 70-working-day periods are exceeded, the periods of several consecutive short-term employments must be aggregated.
If the relevant time limits are exceeded as a result of aggregating several short-term employments, this will constitutes regular employment subject to social insurance contributions.
Employers have obligation to report short-term employees to the "Minijob-Zentrale".

Persons who are self-employed, have parental leave (for a child over 3 years old), undergoing continuing vocational training or work outside the EU/EEA, have the option, under certain conditions, to voluntarily pay contributions and thus be covered by the scheme.

Benefit amount: Earnings-related. Benefit is higher if you have dependent children. Duration of benefit increases for 50+.

Requirements for entitlement

In order to be entitled to unemployment benefit, you must meet the following requirements:

• You are unemployed, but can work for at least 15 hours per week in employment that requires insurance.
• You have registered as unemployed online via Bundesagentur für Arbeit's digital service or in person at your employment agency.
• You are looking for a job that requires insurance. You will work with your employment agency.
• You must have been compulsorily insured for at least 12 months during the last 30 months. Periods where you have raised a child in Germany (up to the age of 3), have received sickness benefit, have done voluntary military service, and periods where the self-employed were voluntarily insured by unemployment insurance will be included.
• You are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, or you possess a valid settlement permit or a work permit that is not tied to a certain job.

You have been employed multiple times with fixed-short-term contracts

If you were often employed on a fixed-term basis (shorter than 14 weeks) you may be entitled to unemployment benefits if you have had at least 6 months of periods subject to insurance (employment or additional periods subject to insurance) in the last 30 months.

Quarantine if you are self-inflicted unemployed

The Unemployment benefits will be suspended for up to 12 weeks if you terminate the job yourself without a good reason, or if your employer have dismissed you for behavioral reasons.

Are there special rules for new graduates?

No, new graduates must meet the same requirements.

Determination of benefit

The basis on which your unemployment benefit is calculated is your gross earnings (salary) for the past 12 months divided by 365.
Only the portion of your wages that was subject to unemployment insurance contributions (e.g., not a mini-job) and that was accounted for at the time you left your employment is taken into account.

From this, the wage tax, if applicable the solidarity surcharge and a flat rate amount for social security of 20 percent are deducted.
The result is your net pay per day, from which you can get 60% or 67% if you or your spouse/partner have at least one child (as defined by the Income Tax Act).

The monthly ceilings are 60 and 67 % of EUR 8,050 monthly gross earnings respectively.
For the first time there is no longer in 2025 difference in the monthly ceiling between (former) West Germany and East Germany.

Since the amount of unemployment benefit depends on tax bracket and possible children there is not a maximum benefit applicable for all groups, however if you are a person without children and pay tax in class I or IV the maximum benefit is EUR 2,640.30 per month (in 2025). If you have at least one child and you are in tax class I or IV the maximum benefit is EUR 2,948.40 per month.
No minimum amount applies.

You can calculate yourself how much you can get in unemployment benefit in this online calculator.

The benefit rate is the same throughout the period in which you can receive benefit (see below).

Tax treatment

Unemployment benefits in Germany is a net benefit, and hence not taxable.

Benefit duration

For people up to 50 years old the period is between 6 and 12 months depending on the duration of compulsory insurance coverage within the last 5 years. If you want the maximum 12 months you must previously have been subject to compulsory insurance for 24 months or more.

From the age of 50, the period of entitlement increases in several steps up to 24 months, however also the period in which you must have been subject to compulsory insurance goes up to 48 months for the maximum entitlement period of 24 months (applies to unemployed persons who are 58 years of age or older).

If you meet the requirements for the shortened qualifying period (see the section above about multiple fixed-short-term contracts), the following applies: If, for example, you have 8 months of insurance coverage, you will receive 4 months of unemployment benefit.

Aggregation of insurance periods from other EU/EEA countries

Periods of insurance and work from another EEA country which are confirmed in a PD U1 document or exchanged electronically by the authorities via EESSI in SED U002 can be used to meet the qualifying period, if you have worked in a job covered by compulsory insurance after arriving in Germany.

In case of using PD U1 / SED U002 the Unemployment benefit is calculated on the basis of income you have had while working in Germany.

How to apply for unemployment benefit

It's a 3-step process to apply for unemployment benefits in Germany.
At the website of the Federal Employment Agency ("Bundesagentur für Arbeit") you must:

• Register as a jobseeker
• Register as unemployed
• Apply for unemployment benefit

If you do not meet the requirements

Individuals who do not meet the above mentioned requirements for unemployment benefits, may have the option to apply for Citizen's benefit ("Bürgergeld").

German words

Unemployment Insurance = Arbeitslosenversicherung

Unemployment benefit = Arbeitslosengeld

This page was last updated on March 28, 2025.