Unemployment benefit in Denmark
If you become unemployed, you may be entitled to unemployment benefit, provided you have paid the necessary contributions to an unemployment insurance fund. In some Nordic countries, membership of an unemployment insurance fund is automatic when you start a new job; in others you have to join one yourself. If you live in one Nordic country and work in another, or if you move from one Nordic country to another, you need to pay particular attention to the relevant regulations.
Unemployment insurance
In most cases, if you are working in Denmark, the Danish social security regulations will apply, which require you to join an unemployment insurance fund (A-kasse) if you wish to be insured against unemployment.
In Denmark, joining an unemployment insurance fund is voluntary, but most people choose to do so because membership provides financial security if they become unemployed.
You can choose either full-time or part-time insurance. Full-time insurance costs more, but in return, you will receive higher benefits if you become unemployed.
It is your own responsibility to contact and join an unemployment insurance fund.
You can obtain a list of Danish unemployment insurance funds from the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment, and further details about the funds are available from the industry association Danske A-Kasser (Danish Unemployment Insurance Funds).
If you live in Denmark and work in another Nordic country, the rules of the country in which you are working will generally apply.
If you live in one Nordic country and work in another, you will generally be subject to the rules of the country in which you are working.
If you work in two or more countries, the question of where you are insured against unemployment will depend partly on where you live and partly on how much you work in each country. As a general rule, you will be covered by Danish regulations if you live in Denmark and more than 25% of your working hours are in Denmark. If you have any questions, contact the authority responsible for benefit payments, Udbetaling Danmark.
If you have begun to work in Denmark or are covered by Danish regulations for some other reason, you must join a Danish unemployment insurance fund (A-kasse) within eight weeks to avoid any gaps in your unemployment insurance period.
If you work for a Danish employer and are posted to another Nordic country for up to two years, you can apply to Udbetaling Danmark for continuing cover by Danish social security, so that you will still be insured in Denmark against unemployment. Udbetaling Danmark can issue an A1 certificate that will document this decision for foreign authorities.
You can read more at borger.dk.
If you are in any doubt about where you should be insured, contact the relevant official agency in the country in which you work or live, and ask them to advise you about the regulations that apply to you.
If you are working temporarily for a Danish employer in Greenland, and you were living in Denmark immediately before you moved to Greenland, you can continue to be a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund. For further information, contact your unemployment insurance fund.
If you are self-employed you may be entitled to unemployment benefit, but some regulations are slightly different to those for employees. For example, you must close your company down to be entitled to unemployment benefit.
If you are a self-employed cross-border worker who is fully unemployed and living in an EU member state where there is no unemployment insurance system for the self-employed, you can receive unemployment benefit from your Danish unemployment insurance fund under certain conditions.
See the section on “Recent graduates” under “Unemployment benefit”.
If you have any questions concerning where you should be insured against unemployment, contact Udbetaling Danmark.
Unemployment benefit
In which country should you apply for unemployment benefit?
If you are unemployed, you should apply for unemployment benefit in the country where you live. This also applies if you have worked in another Nordic country.
You can read about the regulations for receiving Danish unemployment benefit below. If you have worked in Denmark but live in another Nordic country, please see the page on the country where you live for information about receiving unemployment benefit. (See “Information about unemployment insurance and unemployment benefit in the Nordic countries” at the bottom of this page.)
What conditions must you meet to be entitled to Danish unemployment benefit if you are an employee or self-employed?
To be entitled to Danish unemployment benefit, you must comply with the requirements listed below. These regulations are described in detail at borger.dk.
You must:
- Be registered as a job-seeker at your local job centre from the first day of your unemployment
- Have been a member of an unemployment insurance fund for at least one year
- Have filed tax returns for a certain level of income over the last three years
- Be available for work
- Have a complete, approved CV within two weeks of registering as unemployed at the job centre.
As a recent graduate you may be entitled to unemployment benefit one month after you complete your studies, provided your study programme was one of the following types:
- A vocational programme scheduled to last at least 18 months
- A basic vocational course provided under the Basic Vocational Education and Training Act
- A Basic Integration Programme under the Act on Basic Integration Education – IGU
- A part-time Master's programme commenced after 1 July 2018, provided under the Universities Act.
In order to be entitled to unemployment benefits as a graduate, you must:
- Have passed the Danish 2 test with a grade of at least 02, or a Danish examination at an equivalent or higher level
or
- Have at least 600 paid working hours registered as full-time insured or 400 hours as part-time insured for 12 months within the past 24 months.
You must apply to join an unemployment insurance fund no later than two weeks after completing your study programme. The earliest date you can become a member is the date on which you completed your study programme.
As a recent graduate, the amount you will receive will be determined by whether or not you have dependents.
If you completed your study programme abroad, a condition for being entitled to unemployment benefit is that you must meet the requirement for residence in Denmark, the Faroe Islands or Greenland immediately before you started your study programme, and no later than two weeks after completing it.
If you are not entitled to benefits from a Danish unemployment insurance fund because you have been working and insured in another Nordic country, you must document your insurance periods abroad, either by your unemployment insurance fund obtaining the information directly from the Nordic country in which you have previously been insured for unemployment, or with a PD U1 certificate, which you can obtain by contacting the unemployment insurance in the country in which you have been working.
You must have been a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund for at least one year to be entitled to unemployment benefits after your stay in another EEA country, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands or the United Kingdom.
If you have been a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund within the past five years, you can combine your unemployment insurance periods from another EEA country, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands and the UK with unemployment insurance periods in Denmark. You must meet the following two conditions within eight weeks of your unemployment insurance ending in the other EEA country, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands or the United Kingdom:
- You must apply in writing to join a Danish unemployment insurance fund
- You must move to Denmark and take up residence here.
If you have not been a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund within the past five years, you can combine your unemployment insurance periods from another EEA country, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands or the United Kingdom. You must meet the following conditions within eight weeks of your unemployment insurance ending in the other EEA country, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands or the United Kingdom:
- You must apply in writing to join a Danish unemployment insurance fund
- You must have started a period of employment of a certain length, or started a business of your own which is not temporary. For further information on the conditions, please refer to borger.dk.
The unemployment insurance fund will make the final decision on whether or not you are eligible for membership and entitled to unemployment benefit.
If you apply for unemployment benefit in another Nordic country, you may have the right to include your employment and insurance periods from Denmark. If you are in any doubt about the applicable rules, you should contact the appropriate authorities in the country concerned.
To document your Danish periods of insurance, the authority in the country where you apply for unemployment benefits will obtain information about your Danish periods of insurance, or you can use a the PD U1 certificate. You can apply for this certificate at borger.dk.
How to apply for Danish unemployment benefit
If you become unemployed, you must be registered as unemployed at jobnet.dk on your first day of unemployment. If you do not have internet access, you can go to your local job centre or unemployment insurance fund and ask for help to register.
In order to receive benefits from your unemployment insurance fund, you must be registered as unemployed on jobnet.dk and with your unemployment insurance fund.
When you register as unemployed at the job centre, you will be issued with a username and password for your own page – “Min Side” – on jobnet.dk. If you register as unemployed on jobnet.dk, you will generate these yourself. If your job centre registers you, your username and password will be sent to your e-Boks (digital inbox). If you are exempted from compulsory digital post, these will be sent by letter to the postal address at which you are registered.
You must enter your CV at jobnet.dk. In addition, you must:
- Confirm that you are an active job-seeker by checking job vacancies
- Register your job searches in joblog
- Report fit for work again after any period of illness
- Follow your plan – “Min plan” – for activities that you must take part in while unemployed, and read your agreements with the job centre and with the unemployment insurance fund.
There are several self-service functions on jobnet.dk. For example, you can de-register when you find work, report your holidays, report sick, or book and rebook appointments at the job centre.
For how long are you entitled to receive Danish unemployment benefit?
If you are not a recent graduate, you are entitled to receive unemployment benefits for two years within a three-year period.If you are a recent graduate, you are entitled to unemployment benefits for a total of one year within a two-year period.
Your benefits allowance is calculated in hours within a "reference period" of two or three years, depending on whether or not you are a recent graduate.During the three-year reference period, you will overall be entitled to benefit for a certain number of hours. The hours for which you are entitled to benefit will lapse if you fail to use them within the reference period. The reference period may be extended, for example if you have been sick or on parental leave.
If your benefit period has expired, you have the right to extend it based on the number of hours of paid work that you have had since you started receiving unemployment benefit.
Each hour worked extends your benefit period by two hours. You must use the extra benefit hours within this period, which is calculated as three times the number of hours you have worked.
There is a limit to the number of hours you can accumulate in this way. You can read more about the relevant regulations at borger.dk.
Can your Danish unemployment benefit be paid out in another Nordic country?
If you are receiving Danish unemployment benefit, you can under certain circumstances take your benefit to another Nordic country for up to three months while looking for work there. However, this does not apply to Greenland.
The conditions are that:
- You are a national of an EEA country or Switzerland
- You live and reside in Denmark up to your departure date
- You are a member of an unemployment insurance fund
- You are entitled to unemployment benefit at the time of departure
- You have been registered at your job centre as full-time unemployed for at least four weeks before the planned date of departure
- You have applied for a PD U2 certificate from your unemployment insurance fund before you leave, but no earlier than four weeks before the planned departure date.
In certain cases, you may be exempt from the condition of being registered for four weeks at the job centre. You can read more at borger.dk.
The PD U2 certificate proves your entitlement to a stated period of unemployment benefit. To receive the benefit you must register with the employment service in the country to which you have travelled no later than seven days after the start date stated in the certificate. Otherwise, your unemployment benefit will begin on the day you register with the employment service.
While receiving Danish unemployment benefits in another Nordic country, you must be available for work in the country concerned. If you find a job, you can no longer receive Danish unemployment benefits. Instead, you will normally need to take out unemployment insurance in the country where you find work.
If you do not find work in the other country, it is important that you return to Denmark and report to your local job centre before the end of the three-month period. This is set out in the PD U2 certificate issued to you by your unemployment insurance fund.
Can you receive unemployment benefit from another Nordic country while looking for work in Denmark?
If you are receiving unemployment benefit from another Nordic country, you can in certain circumstances take your unemployment benefit with you to Denmark for up to three months while looking for work. The unemployment insurance agency in the country where you are insured must issue a PD U2 certificate.
On arrival in Denmark you must register with ‘Work in Denmark’ as a job-seeker.
Who should you contact if you have questions?
If you have any questions about unemployment insurance in Denmark, you should contact a Danish unemployment insurance fund (A-kasse).
If you have any questions about which country's rules apply in your situation, contact the Udbetaling Danmark office for International Social Security.
Information about unemployment insurance and unemployment benefit in the Nordic countries
More information
Please fill in our contact form if you have any questions or if you have encountered an obstacle in another Nordic country.
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