Unemployment benefits

The Danish unemployment insurance system is a voluntary insurance scheme. This means that you are not automatically insured against unemployment when working in Denmark.

There are several unemployment insurance funds in Denmark. Some of them only admit people within one or more specific professions, while others admit persons from all professions.

It is also possible to be a member of an unemployment insurance fund if you are self-employed.

• List of unemployment insurance funds (in Danish) 

You can become a member of an unemployment insurance fund if you are at least 18 years of age, have more than 2 years left before you reach your retirement age, and reside in Denmark or is subject to Danish social security legislation and reside in another EU/EEA Member State.

Persons under the age of 18 can also join an unemployment insurance fund, if they have completed a vocational education of at least 18 months.

In order to become a member of an unemployment insurance fund, you must actively contact the unemployment insurance fund of which you want to be a member and apply for a membership.

When applying for membership, you must choose between full-time insurance and part-time insurance. The full-time insurance costs more, but you will receive more in unemployment benefits if you become unemployed.

You have to meet a number of conditions to be entitled to Danish unemployment benefits.

You must: 

• have been a member of an unemployment insurance fund for at least 1 year (it is possible to aggregate periods from another EU/EEA country – see 'Aggregation of periods from another EU/EEA country').
• be registered as a jobseeker at your local job centre from the first day you are available to the labour market.
• have received a certain income for the past 3 years; at least DKK 263,232 (2024) if you are full-time insured, and at least DKK 175,488 (2024) if you are part-time insured.
• be available for the labour market. This means, among other things, that you must apply for and be able to take over work with the notice of a day.
• have a complete and approved CV no later than 2 weeks after you have registered as unemployed at the job centre.

Newly-qualified – graduates

You may be entitled to unemployment benefits on the basis of a completed education.

As a newly-qualified person you have the right to unemployment benefits 1 month after you have completed your studies, for instance a bachelor’s or master’s degree programme. But other types of education may entitle you to unemployment benefits. Please consult your unemployment insurance fund if you do not know whether your education is eligible for unemployment benefits.

To qualify for unemployment benefits as a newly-qualified, you must fulfil one of the following conditions:

• You have passed the Danish language proficiency test ‘Prøve i Dansk 2’  with a mark of at least 02 on the 7-point grading scale or a Danish language proficiency test at an equivalent or higher level. 
• You have had at least 600 paid hours as full-time insured and 400 paid hours as part-time insured for 12 months within the last 24 months. You must apply to join an unemployment insurance fund no later than 2 weeks after concluding your education.

You can at the earliest join from the day that you concluded your education.

Your unemployment insurance fund can inform you further about the conditions for entitlement to unemployment benefits.

In order to receive unemployment benefits from your unemployment insurance fund, you must be register as a job seeker at your local job centre or on (Jobnet.dk).

It is not possible to receive unemployment benefits for a period prior to your registration as unemployed. Therefore, you must complete the registration as unemployed on the first day you are unemployed, if you wish to receive unemployment benefits from day one of your unemployment period. If you do not have internet access, you can ask your local job centre or the unemployment insurance fund to help you to become registered.

• Find your local job centre (in Danish)

You are entitled to unemployment benefits for 2 years within 3 years, calculated in hours. In other words, you are entitled to receive benefits for 3,848 hours within a 3-year-period. However, if you are a recent graduate, you are entitled to receive unemployment benefits for a total of 1 year within a period of 2 years. In other words, you are entitled to benefits for 1,924 hours of the benefits in total within a 2-year period. 

If you do not use all the hours within the period of 3 years, the remaining hours for which you are entitled to unemployment benefits will lapse.

It is possible to extend the period of 3 years, for example if you have been ill or on maternity leave.

It is also possible to extend the unemployment benefit period of 2 years, that is, the 3,848 hours, based on wage hours paid to you since you started receiving unemployment benefits.

Each working hour extends your unemployment benefit period by 2 hours.

You must use the extra unemployment benefit hours within a period 3 times the number of hours you have worked. For example, if you have worked 100 hours before your ordinary unemployment benefit period of 2 years has expired, it entitles you to unemployment benefits for a further 200 hours. You must use the 200 hours within a period of 300 hours.

Hours not used within the extended period (this means the 300 hours in the example above) will lapse.

Unemployment benefits can amount to a maximum of 90 per cent of the salary you earned before you became unemployed. The amount of unemployment benefits is calculated based on the 12 months in which you had the highest income within the past 24 months.

You can receive a maximum of:

• DKK 20,359 (2024) per month as full-time insured
• DKK 13,573 (2024) per month as part-time insured.

You can have your benefit rate increased to 118.86 per cent of the maximum benefit amount. This amounts to a maximum of:

• DKK 24,199 (2024) per month for full-time insured persons
• DKK 16,133 (2024) per month for part-time insured persons.

In order to be entitled to this increased benefit rate, you must:

• have been an uninterrupted member of an unemployment fund for at least 4 years prior to being placed in an unemployment benefit period
• have had at least DKK 526,464 (2024) as full-time insured, up to a maximum of DKK 21,936 (2024) per month and DKK 175,488 (2024) as part-time insured, up to a maximum of DKK 14,624 (2024) per month within the last 3 years if you are placed in an unemployment benefit period on the basis of income
• have had at least 3,848 paid hours as full-time insured and 3,120 hours as part-time insured if you are placed in an unemployment benefit period on the basis of paid hours
• have had an unemployment benefit rate calculated which exceeds 100 per cent of the maximum amount of unemployment benefits.

You can receive the increased rate for up to 481 hours as full-time insured and 390 hours as part-time insured. 

If you are newly-qualified or a conscript

As a newly-qualified person or a conscript with responsibility for dependants, you can get 82 per cent of the maximum unemployment benefit on a full-time or part-time insurance basis. This amounts to a maximum of

• DKK 16,694 (2024) per month as full-time insured.
• DKK 11,130 (2024) per month as part-time insured. 

As a newly-qualified person or a conscript without responsibility for dependants, you can get 71.5 per cent of the maximum unemployment benefit on a full-time or part-time insurance basis. This amounts to a maximum of:

• DKK 14,557 (2024) per month as full-time insured.
• DKK 9,705 (2024) per month as part-time insured.  

When you as a newly-qualified have received unemployment benefits for 481 hours as full-time insured and 390 hours as part-time insured, your unemployment benefit rate is further reduced.

If you are under 30 years of age without responsibility for dependants, the rate is 49.17 per cent of the highest unemployment benefit rate. This amounts to a maximum of :

• DKK 10,011 (2024) per month as full-time insured.
• DKK 6,674 (2024) per month as part-time insured.  

If you are at least 30 years old and do not have a dependency obligation, the rate is 62.11 per cent of the highest unemployment benefit rate. This amounts to a maximum of:

• DKK 12,645 (2024) per month as full-time insured.
• DKK 8,430 (2024) per month as part-time insured. 

If you are under 25 years old

As a person under 25, you will in some cases get 50 per cent, or 49.17 per cent, of the highest unemployment benefit rate. This amounts to a maximum of:

• DKK 10,180 or DKK 10,011 (2024) per month as full-time insured.
• DKK 6,787 or DKK 6,674 (2024) per month as part-time insured.

After 2 weeks of unemployment at the latest, you will be invited to a CV interview with your unemployment fund. Together with the unemployment fund, you will now start a personalised plan, ‘My Plan’, and together draw up individual ‘Job search requirements’ for you. The ‘Job search requirements’ form the basis for the unemployment insurance fund's assessment of your availability for the labour market while you receive unemployment benefits.

Register your job search activities

You must document your job search by continuously registering your job search activities and uploading applications in the job log on Jobnet or in the unemployment insurance fund's own digital job log, if applicable.

You need to apply for and register the number of jobs that your unemployment insurance fund has required. You also need to upload the number of job applications in the job log that your unemployment insurance fund has decided upon. You need to do this so that the unemployment insurance fund and the job centre can assess the quality of your job search and advise you on how you may improve your job search.

The unemployment insurance fund may require you to upload copies of all your applications for a certain period. This can be the case if the unemployment insurance fund has doubts as to whether your job search is sufficient and realistic.

You can receive unemployment benefits during the first 14 days of illness if you are registered as a job seeker at your local job centre prior to this.

You have to fulfill the following 3 conditions to receive unemployment benefits during your period of illness:

• You have to report that you are sick to your unemployment insurance fund on the first day of your illness. You can also report that you are sick to the job centre or on Jobnet.
• You cannot be working part time.
• Receiving unemployment benefits during your first 14 days of illness also requires that you would have been entitled to unemployment benefits if you had not been sick.

During your period of illness, you do not have to be registered as a job seeker at the job centre and you do not have to be actively looking for work or be available for interviews, work and offers from the job centre or from the unemployment insurance fund.

If you begin full employment for at least 14 days, you must deregister as a recipient of unemployment benefits on Jobnet.

However, you may continue to be registered until the end of the month in which you start working, if the work starts during the month.

In certain situations, you are entitled to aggregate insurance periods from another EU/EEA country, Switzerland or United Kingdom – hereinafter collectively referred to as 'EU/EEA country' – to meet the requirement of having been a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund, referred to as an 'a-kasse' in Danish, for at least 1 year before being entitled to unemployment benefits.

It is a requirement that you are a citizen of an EU/EEA country, a stateless citizen or a refugee, and that you reside in Denmark to be able to aggregate insurance periods from another EU/EEA country. 

Third country citizens residing in Denmark are only able to aggregate insurance periods completed within the Nordic countries, namely the Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland.

If you have been a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund within the last 5 years, you are entitled to aggregate periods from another EU/EEA country if you meet the following conditions within 8 weeks after the end of your insurance period in the other EU/EEA country:

• Take up residence in Denmark
• Become a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund. 

If you have not been a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund within the last 5 years, you have to meet the following conditions within 8 weeks after the end of your insurance period in the other EU/EEA country in order to be entitled to aggregate periods:

• Take up residence in Denmark
• Become a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund
• Take up employment in Denmark.

Furthermore, when you have started working in Denmark, you have to work at least 296 payable hours within a period of 12 weeks/3 months, if you are full-time insured. If you are part-time insured, you have to work at least 148 payable hours within a period of 12 weeks/3 months. 

If you have worked as a cross border worker with residence in Denmark during your last employment, you are entitled to aggregate periods from another EU/EEA country if you become a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund within 8 weeks after the end of your insurance period in the other EU/EEA country.

It is possible to extend the deadline of 8 weeks in all 3 cases, for example if you have been ill or on maternity leave. An extension of the deadline depends on a decision from your Danish unemployment insurance fund.

As a rule, your Danish unemployment insurance fund can only aggregate periods stated in a specific document, so-called PD U1 or SED, issued by the competent authority in the state of last employment.

Your Danish unemployment insurance fund can request information about your insurance periods from the EU/EEA country in which you completed the insurance period/employment. The unemployment insurance fund will need information from you in order to do so. Your unemployment insurance fund will after that handle all contact with the other EU/EEA country through structured electronic documents 'SEDs' exchanged in a securely closed EU system 'EESSI'. You can contact your Danish unemployment insurance fund for more information.

As an alternative, you can also apply for a document PD U1 in the EU/EEA country in which the insurance period/employment was completed.

Aggregation of periods in relation to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from EU

The United Kingdom (UK) withdrew from EU on 31 January 2020. However, EU and UK agreed on a transitional period, which meant that the provisions of EU on the right to free movement was still applicable until 31 December 2020.

This means, that the rules on aggregation of periods, as mentioned above, are without any changes for:

• EU/EEA citizens who had a legal right to stay in UK on 31 December 2020 the latest
• UK citizens who had a legal right to stay in an EU/EEA Member State on 31 December 2020 the latest.

Furthermore, EU and UK have agreed on another agreement 'the Trade and Cooperation Agreement', applicable from 1 January 2021 and onwards. This agreement also includes provisions on aggregation of periods, however, in a limited form, as it does not regulate rights when moving internally between EU Member States.

This means:

• If you are a UK citizen with residence in Denmark, or a Danish citizen with residence in UK, you are entitled to aggregate periods from UK and/or Denmark, even though you moved after 1 January 2021.
• If you are a UK citizen with residence in Denmark, and you did not have a legal right to stay in Denmark prior to 1 January 2021, you are not entitled to aggregate periods from another EU/EEA country. This is due to the fact, that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is not applicable when you move between EU Member States, and you cannot aggregate periods according to EU Regulations, when you are a third country citizen. However, you are entitled to aggregate periods from another Nordic country (the Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland) on an equal basis with other third country citizens. This is due to a special agreement between the Nordic countries.

A cross border worker or frontier worker is a person who works in one EU/EEA Member State and resides in another EU/EEA Member State to which they return daily or at least once a week.

A cross border workers are also subject to the legislation of the EU/EEA Member State in which they work. However, special rules applies for cross border workers in the event of unemployment.

A cross border worker who is partially or intermittently unemployed must register as unemployed with the employment services in the EU/EEA Member State of employment. The cross border work shall receive unemployment benefits in accordance with the legislation of the Member State of employment, as if the was residing in that Member State.

A wholly unemployed cross border worker must register as unemployed with the employment services in the EU/EEA Member State of residence and shall receive unemployment benefits in accordance with the legislation of the Member State of residence.

As a supplementary step, a wholly unemployed cross border workers may make themselves available to the employment services of the Member State of last employment. This supplementary step does not change the fact that they shall receive unemployment benefits in their Member State of residence.

Please note, that you can also be a cross border worker that return to your residence less than once a week,e.g. once a month. If this is the case, you have 2 options:

• If you stay in the Member State of last employment, you can register with employment services and claim unemployment benefits in this Member State.
• You can return to your Member State of residence to look for a job and receive unemployment benefits there.

In certain cases, you are entitled to receive unemployment benefits while looking for a job in another EU/EEA country for up to 3 months.

This opportunity is only available if you are:

• an EU/EEA-citizen or a Swiss citizen
• a stateless citizen or a refugee with residence in Denmark.

Third country citizens residing in Denmark will not be able to look for a job in another EU/EEA country for up to 3 months while receiving Danish unemployment benefits.

You have to meet the following conditions:

• You have been registered with the job centre as full-time unemployed for at least 4 weeks before the planned departure date.
• You are available for the labour market on your departure date.
• You reside in Denmark until the departure date, including the day of departure.
• You are a member of a Danish unemployment insurance fund.
• You are entitled to unemployment benefits on the departure date.
• You have applied for a PD U2 certificate from your unemployment insurance fund before your departure.
• You do not depart from Denmark before the date stated in your PD U2 certificate.

In certain cases, you can get an exemption from the requirement of 4 weeks' registration with the job centre. You can contact your unemployment insurance fund for further information on the possibility of exemption.

With document PD U2, you are entitled to unemployment benefits for the period stated in the document, which is a maximum of 3 months. However, in order to receive the unemployment benefits, you must register with the employment service, in the country you are traveling to, no later than 7 days after the start date stated in document PD U2. Otherwise, you will only receive unemployment benefits from the day you register with the employment service in the other EU/EEA country.

During the period you receive Danish unemployment benefits in another EU/EEA country, you must be available for the labour market in the country in which you search for a job. If you get a job, you can no longer receive Danish unemployment benefits.

If you do not find work in the other EU/EEA country, it is important that you are back in Denmark and register with your local job centre before the deadline of 3 months expires. You can see the deadline in your document PD U2 issued by your Danish unemployment insurance fund.

If you do not return to Denmark and register with your local job centre before the deadline expires, you will lose your right to unemployment benefits. Hereafter, you will be entitled to unemployment benefits again at the earliest, when you have worked for at least 296 hours within a period of 12 weeks/3 months, if you are full-time insured. If you are part-time insured, you have to have worked at least 148 hours within a period of 12 weeks/3 months.

If you would like to search for a job in the UK

The United Kingdom (UK) withdrew from EU on 31 January 2020. However, EU and UK agreed on a transitional period, which meant that the provisions of EU on the right to free movement was still applicable until 31 December 2020.

Since 1 January 2021, the right for an EU/EEA citizen with residence in Denmark to search for a job in UK while receiving unemployment benefits from Denmark depends on the person having had a legal right to stay in UK before 1 January 2021.

This means:

• If you had a legal right to stay in the UK on 31 December 2020 the latest, you are as an EU/EEA citizen, residing in Denmark, entitled to search for a job in the UK with Danish unemployment benefits.
• If you did not have a legal right to stay in the UK on 31 December 2020 the latest, you are not entitled to search for a job in the UK with Danish unemployment benefits.

If you are a citizen of the United Kingdom and would like to search for a job in Denmark

The transitional period mentioned above also applies to UK citizens who would like to search for a job in Denmark. However, we recommend that you contact the authorities in your home country for more guidance, as there can also be national rules to follow.  

You must send your appeal against a decision made by your unemployment insurance fund to your unemployment insurance fund no later than 4 weeks after you received the decision. There are no formal requirements for an appeal. If the unemployment insurance fund agrees with your appeal, you will be informed by them directly. But if they do not agree, they must send your appeal on to the CKA: the Centre for Unemployment Insurance Complaints under the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment. They must do this no later than 4 weeks after they received your appeal.

Please note that an appeal to the CKA does not have suspensive effect. This means that the decision made by the unemployment insurance fund applies up to the time when the CKA makes a decision. If your appeal is upheld, any subsequent payment of unemployment benefits will be subject to the condition that you have met the other conditions for entitlement to unemployment benefits throughout the period for which you are claiming unemployment benefits.

If you want to appeal the CKA decision, you must within 4 weeks send the appeal to the CKA. If the CKA agrees with your appeal, you will be informed by them directly. But if they disagree, they must send your appeal on to The Employment Committee of The National Appeals Board. The CKA must do this no later than 4 weeks after they received your appeal.

• List of unemployment insurance funds (in Danish)
• Contact the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment