EU
The Netherlands
Unemployment
Insurance
Unemployment Insurance in EU->The Netherlands
Unemployment insurance in The Netherlands
Type of scheme
How to join? Compulsory Unemployment Insurance. You will automatically be enrolled in unemployment insurance when you start working in The Netherlands, and the compulsory insurance ends with the end of the employment relationship.
Contribution: Employers pay contributions on behalf of their employees.
Who is covered? All employees.
Benefit amount: Earnings-related.
If you are self-employed and you become unemployed, in general you will not be eligible for unemployment benefit.
However if you have been employed before you became self-employed or was receiving unemployment benefit when you became self-employed, you can under certain conditions still qualify for unemployment benefit.
Self-employed who do not qualify for unemployment benefit, can apply for various forms of social benefit under the Decree on Social Assistance to the Self-Employed (Besluit bijstandverlening zelfstandigen, Bbz)
Voluntary income protection coverage
The Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut werknemersverzekeringen, UWV) also offer all employees and self-employed a voluntary income protection coverage (‘vrijwillige verzekering’) for illness, occupational disability (‘arbeidsongeschiktheid’) and unemployment. You can calculate the cost here.
Requirements for entitlement
- You are involuntary unemployed
- You are capable and available for work
- You have unemployment coverage through your job, which is usually the case if you have an employer
- You must meet the "weeks condition" for working history (you worked for at least 26 weeks in the last 36 weeks before you became unemployed) for being eligible for the short-term earnings-related benefit (the first 3 months).
In addition if you can also meet the "years condition" (you have had at least 208 hours of paid work for 4 out of the 5 years before the year you became unemployed), you will receive an unemployment benefit for more than 3 months. See more below. - You have worked at least 10 hours per week on average, and have lost at least 5 work hours a week and the associated pay (for employees who are employed for less than 10 hours per week, the condition is to have lost at least half of the working hours)
- You must apply no later than 1 week after the first day of your unemployment
- You must register as a jobseeker with UWV
Are there special rules for new graduates?
No
The amount of unemployment benefit
The basis for calculation is your gross wage ("sv-loon").
With your monthly "sv-loon" UWV calculate your daily wage ("dagloon"). For this they divide your "sv-loon" by the total number of working days of the months in which you received wages.
Your average monthly unemployment benefit income ("WW-maandloon") is calculated on the basis of your average daily income ("dagloon") over the last year.
For the first 2 months of unemployment, you will receive 75% of your "WW-maandloon". After 2 months, you will receive 70%.
Maximum unemployment benefit
There is a maximum unemployment benefit. This is calculated using the statutory maximum daily wage of €290.67. If your daily wage is higher than this amount, we will calculate the amount of your unemployment benefit using the statutory maximum daily wage.
Minimum unemployment benefit
If your income is less than the minimum income (sociaal minimum), you might be entitled to a supplement based on the Supplementary Benefits Act (Toeslagenwet, TW).
The TW provides assistance to people who get a benefit from one of the employee insurance schemes (such as the IOW, WW, WAO/WIA (disability benefit), or ZW (sickness benefit) schemes if their income (plus that of their partner) falls below the minimum guaranteed income.
Payment of your unemployment benefit
At the end of each month, you will need to report your monthly earnings to UWV. They can then make any adjustments that are necessary. You will then receive your unemployment benefit within 14 days.
Tax treatment
Unemployment benefits in The Netherlands is subject to the income tax.
The duration of unemployment benefit
The maximum duration is 24 months, and the minimum duration is 3 months.
A person only meeting the "weeks" condition (see under requirements) is entitled to an unemployment benefit lasting at least 3 months.
For a person who meets the "years" condition: For the first 10 years, each year in employment gives entitlement to one month of unemployment benefit. If there are years of employment before the year 2016, From the 11th year, each year in employment before 2016 gives entitlement to one month of unemployment benefit, and each year in employment from 2016 onwards gives entitlement to 1/2 month of unemployment benefit.
The maximum duration of benefit is 24 months.
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 The Netherlands.
In case of using PD U1 / SED U002 the Unemployment benefit is calculated on the basis of income you have had while working in The Netherlands.
How to apply for unemployment benefit
To apply, log in to Mijn UWV so that you can access and complete the ‘Unemployment benefit application form’ (‘aanvragen WW-uitkering’). You will need either a DigiD account or a valid European electronic ID (‘Europees erkend inlogmiddel’) to do this.
If you do not meet the requirements
The Netherlands do not provide a Unemployment Assistance programme. However a social assistance benefit is provided under the Participation Act (Participatiewet).
This is a non-contributory benefit, means-tested and taxable.
The Dutch Participation Act guarantees a minimum income to any Dutch inhabitant who does not have sufficient means of existence.
Who do yo need to contact?
WERK.nl
On werk.nl, a website of UWV, you will find everything about finding work and applying successfully.
UWV
UWV (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen) is the national Employee Insurance Agency.
Dutch words
Unemployment Insurance = Werkloosheidsverzekering
Unemployment benefit = WW-uitkering
This page was last updated on April 10, 2025.
- Unemployment insurance in Europe →
Unemployment Insurance in The Netherlands
You might also be interested in:
⇒EU social security coordination
⇒Unemployment Insurance in the Nordic countries
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.