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Unemployment
Insurance

Unemployment insurance in Europe

Despite the fact that there is regulation on EU-level regarding social security, including unemployment Insurance, then there are big difference in Unemployment insurance schemes among the individual countries.

The countries examined are the 28 EU member states + Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

All countries have its own laws determining:

how the unemployment Insurance System is financed.
how long you must work or how much you must earn before qualifying for unemployment benefits.
how the benefit amount is determined, and for how long you can receive the benefit.

EU Regulation 883/2004 provides rules for coordination of national social security systems and also encompasses unemployment insurance.

The main role of the EU regulation regarding Unemployment Insurance, is to determine which country's social security covers you when 2 or more countries are involved.

As a rule, you're covered by the legislation of just 1 country at a time and only pay contributions in that country; you should be treated the same as nationals of that country.

EU coordination on social security

Who do these rules apply to?

Nationals of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland who are or have been insured in one of these countries, and their family members.
Stateless persons or refugees residing in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, who are or have been insured in one of these countries, and their family members.
Nationals of non-EU countries, legally residing in the territory of the EU, who have moved between these countries, and their family members. It does not apply to Denmark.

The four main principles

The coordination of social security facilitates the free movement of people within the EU. It covers a wide range of social security benefits, including unemployment benefits. On the area of unemployment benefits the coordination also includes some special rules only applying for unemployment benefits.

The coordination has the following effect on unemployment Insurance within EU:

You must only be covered by Unemployment Insurance in one memberstate at a time. This also means that you only pay contributions in one country. The decision on which country's legislation applies to you will be made by the social security institutions. You cannot choose.
Find out which rules apply to you.
You have the same rights and obligations as the nationals of the country where you are covered. This is known as the principle of equal treatment or non-discrimination.
When you claim unemployment benefits, your previous periods of insurance, work or residence in other countries are taken into account if necessary.
If you are entitled to Unemployment benefits from one country, you can still receive it for up to 3 months if you move to another member state to look for job. This is known as the principle of exportability.

Differences between national schemes

We have made description of all EEA countries and what kind of unemployment insurance system they provide, especially with focus on your rights to unemployment benefits in the particular country.

In the vast majority of the countries the Unemployment Insurance is compulsory for all employed. Sweden and Finland have a basic compulsory scheme together with a voluntary unemployment insurance. Denmark have only voluntary unemployment Insurance.

A-kasse oversigt (forside) →
Unemployment Insurance in EU

Key points of EU Unemployment Insurance coordination

Transferring periods of work and insurance between EEA countries As an EU citizen you can transfer acquired rights from Unemployment Insurance when moving between EU/EEA contries. In this way it may be easier to become entitled to unemployment benefit in the country you move to.
In the vast majority of the Member states the aggregation rule become fully applicable as soon as you starts to work in the country. However in Denmark, Belgium and Finland you must work some period there before you can use the aggregation rule.
You need a PD U1 document in the country you leave or if the involved countries use electronically exhange (EESSI) there will be issued a SED U002. The countries who issues the highest number of PD U1 documents are Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The countries who receives most PD U1 documents are Lithuania and Italy.
Transferring unemployment benefits Under certain conditions you can go to another EU country to look for work and continue to receive your unemployment benefits from the country where you became unemployed. The period you can export your unemployment benefits varies from 3 to 6 months in the different Member states.
You have to apply for a PD U2 document in the country you leave, or if you haven't done that the institution in the receiving country must request a SED U008 from the competent institution in your last country.
The countries who issues the highest number of PD U2 documents are Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark. Poland is the country who receives by far most PD U2 documents.
Unemployment benefits coverage According to OECD the net replacement of income after 2 months of unemployment, for a single person without children whose previous in-work earnings were 67% of the average wage varies from 33 percent (Ireland) to 91 percent (Belgium). Read more here..

Having residence in another EU country than where you work? According to EU social security coordination rules you must only be insured against unemployment in one country at a time. As a generel rule this country is where you work.
In Member states who have compulsory insurance, you will automatically be covered when you start working there.
However you may be insured by your country of residence if you are posted to a EU/EEA country or work in two or more EU/EEA countries at a time. In these situations you can not your self decide where to have unemployment Insurance, but you (or your employer) must apply for a PD A1 document which states in which country you are covered by social security, including Unemployment Insurance. Special rule also apply for cross-border workers ("frontier workers").
Third-country Nationals working in EU/EEANON-EEA citizens are covered by Unemployment Insurance in the EU countries who have compulsory Unemployment Insurance. In countries with voluntary Unemployment Insurance (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) third-country nationals can become member of an Unemployment Insurance Fund.
In the most countries Third-country nationals can also use the EU Coordination rules when moving within EU/EEA (however not in Denmark, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
Third-country nationals in short-tem working relations often faces problems with actually get Unemployment benefits, even though they have contributed to the system. This is due to the fact that one normally need a residence permit which allow one to take any job, and also because of a qualifying period in most countries between 6-12 months.

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