Unemployment benefit in Germany

Arbeitslosengeld I – unemployment benefit in Germany, the more common terms are “money for the unemployed” or “money from the bureau”

June 5, 2021

Find out everything you need to know about unemployment benefits

What conditions do you need to fulfill to receive compensation?

You have been employed on compulsory insurance for at least 12 months (the length of service is added up, if you have worked in more than one place) and you have not received compensation for 30 months before that
You were employed for at least 6 months out of 30 months, with most of the positions being temporary (up to a maximum of 14 weeks).
You have registered as unemployed at the employment office
You are looking for a job that is subject to insurance and you are cooperating with the Employment Office.

How to get compensation?

You need to visit the employment office with personal documents. With an identity card or passport, residence application, resume and termination of the employment contract or the expiration of the contract. After the interview, in a few days you will receive access data for logging in to the website of the employment office. You will fill in the information and the compensation decision will reach you within a few days.

How is unemployment benefit calculated?

The basis of the calculation is your gross salary in the past 12 months. This amount is divided by the number of days in the year, i.e. 365. The result is your gross pay per day.

Salary tax, solidarity allowance and a lump sum for social insurance of 20 percent are deducted from this. (These deductions are only used for calculation and are not actually paid.) The result is your daily net compensation.

60 percent of this net earnings is the amount you receive daily as unemployment benefits. It increases to 67 percent, if you or your spouse / partner have one or more children.

How long are you entitled to compensation?

It depends on two factors:

How long you have been compulsorily insured
How old are you

The periods subject to compulsory insurance must generally be within the last 5 years.

When are you not entitled to compensation?

Unemployment benefit is an insurance benefit. If you intentionally cause your employment to end, a blocking period may occur: You will not receive unemployment benefits for a certain period of time. Compensation will not be paid for up to 12 weeks.

A blocking period occurs, for example, if:

You terminated your employment relationship (you quit your job),
You were fired for bad behavior, negligence
You signed a termination contract and received severance pay
You got a job, but you don’t accept it,
You do not participate in the measure of professional integration,
You are not looking for a new job and
You are not providing evidence of sending applications

The blocking period does not apply if you have an important reason for your actions and can provide evidence.