How are unemployment/welfare benefits in your country?

10 comments

1. I have never applied for unemployment benefits but I will answer what I can.

   Here in Spain they don’t pay you rent or pay your medical bills (the latter because health care is totally free). What the government does is give you money that you then spend on whatever you need.

   And yes, unemployment benefits last for a certain period of time, they are not unlimited.

2. In Luxembourg you are eligible, in general, for unemployment if you have worked at least 6 months. You can receive unemployment for up to 12 months but you will only receive for the maximum of time that you have worked, so if you worked 8 months then you will get 8 months of unemployment. You get 80% of your previous salary, 85% if you have dependents. Each month you must see your unemployment officer that helps you to find a new job/checks what jobs you have been applying to. If you miss a visit without notice, the first time you lose a week of benefits, the second time, you lose a month. It’s very strict here.
   There is a welfare system, but it must be returned to the government so if you inherit anything that’ll be used to settle your debt or else the debt is passed on to your heirs in case of death, from what I have heard.

3. everyone without income has healthcare paid by state. Including children, retired etc.

   the housing subsidy is a complex calc as it is not just for unemployed but low incomes in general.

4. Unemployment benefits are 62,4% of your income. You’ll get that for 2 years. If you still haven’t gotten a job after two years you’ll end up on some other program.

   As for healthcare there’s a cap at 300euro/year (dental not included).

5. Hey,

   the unemployment benefits in Germany are overall fair imo. When you wanna quit or when the company wants to fire you, you have between 1 and 3 month of notice period in which you might find a new job. If you dont and the company fired you, you then get a pretty decent chunk of your former loan payed out for the next few month by a pool you’ve been paying into while working. Thus you dont have to move out or change your lifestyle drasticly if you dont find a job right away. (Which is a downwards spiral that overall costs the tax payers more than making sure people stay on their feet in the first place). If you then don’t find a job, you get basic-level benefits that come with many strings attached to them. You must see job advisors or visit trainings. This is where the money really gets short and the agency dealing with you will use it as a leverage against you when you dont comply with them. Which is imo fine (you shouldnt get other people tax moneys for nothing), but I feel like we could do better to get these people back on their feet – some need less skills and more mental training imo.

   The underlying idea in Germany right now is (and it is a legacy of the Schröder-Era):

   Step 1: Make it so people beeing laid of can find a new job in their field with as little environmental stress as possible.

   Step 2: If they cannot find a job in their field, make them learn something new.

   Step 3: If they cannot learn something new, force them in (more than 1) low paying, low secure jobs and declare them “in work”.

6. The norwegians already talked about it the strict salary benefits but it is important to mention that healthcare is totally unrelated to your job, you will always get healthcare. The only caveat is that you have a max payment for every healthcare related expense you might have, after that its all free.

7. Healthcare is for everyone eligible (you need to be documented in the system for obvious reasons). There’s a tiny copay fee for specialist appointments (like 6 euros).

   Unemployment pay lasts for 6 months and it’s about 65-70% of your wage.

   There are some programs for rent subsidies and such, but if you’re one step from being homeless then the government pays GMI (guaranteed minimum wage).

   Our main utilities companies such as electricity are semi-state, so if you can’t pay the bill then they work out a payment plan that you can follow. If you or a family member are dependent on electricity to live (ie medical reasons) then they are not allowed to cut your supply.

8. Unemployment is 75 percent of your last salary for the first two months, then 70 percent for the rest of the period up to a maximum of two years. During this period you need to be actively looking for jobs; in the first 6 months you may choose only jobs that fit your profile/experience/education/income level, but after that you’ll need to take every job that is offered to you. You’ll need to apply at least 4 times in 4 weeks.

   After you run out of unemployment benefits and you still have no job, you are expected to live off of your savings before you can apply for government assistance (bijstand). There is a threshold of savings you’re allowed to keep, I think it’s around 6500 euros for a single person. So let’s say you have savings of 20K, that doesn’t mean you can spend 14K in one month and then apply for bijstand. You’re actually expected to spend not more than 1.5x the amount of bijstand in a single month. In other words you need to live off your savings very carefully.

   Once your savings are sufficiently low you may apply for bijstand. For a single person bijstand is 1213 euros a month. You can also apply for zorgtoeslag (pays for health insurance) and for huurtoeslag (help with paying rent. Can be a few hundred euros).

   Bijstand can theoretically last forever but you’re still expected to apply for jobs 4 times a month and take any job that gets offered. If you don’t you may be sanctioned by losing a month of bijstand.

9. There are two schemes for unemployment in Denmark.

   One is kind of an optional insurance, you pay around 70€ per month (tax deductible) and if you lose your job you get paid up to 2600€ per month (before taxes). You need to have been working and paying at least one year to be eligible though, and maximum duration you can receive is 2 years. The are other conditions, like you have to send at least two job applications every week.

   The other one is available for everyone over 18, if you don’t have any form of income you can receive an amount of 1570€/month if you’re 30 or over and 1000€ if younger. There is no time limit, but they also require you to send job applications and they can even send you in unpaid (benefits only) internships with a company or other kind of work, typically stuff like trimming the greenery in a kindergarten or collecting trash in the streets, stuff like that. There are also supplements for single parents and stuff like that.

   Apart from that, if you’re a student and 18 or older, for most educations you can receive student grants, typically 860/month of you live away from your parents, less of you live at home (how much depends on parents income). You can receive student grants for higher educations (uni/college etc) for up to 70 months. Also almost all educations are free, there are very few exceptions.

   One you reach retirement age you can receive public pension as well, it is also about 1000€/month. Most people also have private pension savings to supplement the public one though.

   For health care, all public doctors visits and hospitals are free, even stuff like fertility treatment is free to some extent (only for the first child, maximum 3/4 intents). You will have to pay for medicine though, but only the first approximately 500€/year.

   There is a shit ton of other welfare benefits, I think those are the most important ones. Welfare is huge an complex in Denmark!

10. Unemployment is handled by the A-kassa which there are several of. Completely optional to join and pay into, usually Unemployment is 80% of your wage at most but it caps at like 2600-3000€/month for the first 100 days, then it goes down a bit.

    You can add unemployment insurance and what not to boost your unemployment benefits substantially to like 80% of your wage but caps at ~6000€/month again for the first 100 days of unemployment. You also have to be continually applying for jobs and what not just like the Norwegian system.

    Healthcare costs cap at 110€ per year after that it’s all free doesnt matter how much surgery you need or anything it caps at 110€. Medicine costs are capped at ~225€ per year. Dental is not included but you do get a grant every year for it and it’s technically also subsidised to begin with. Dental gets more subsidised the more you need it too. Well completely free dental ends at age 24…

    I love our welfare system although it could be better, I’d never in my fucking life trade it with what the US has.