Unemployment benefit

Arbeitslosengeld

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Arbeitslosengeld is an unemployment-insurance benefit, separate from Grundsicherungsgeld. To claim it when unemployed, you must register as unemployed with the Agentur für Arbeit and meet the qualifying-period and other conditions. Eligible insurance periods are not limited to work as an employee.

In short

To claim Arbeitslosengeld when unemployed, you must be unemployed, register as unemployed with the Agentur für Arbeit and complete the qualifying period. Registering as seeking work under section 38 does not replace unemployment registration under section 141.
Register electronically or in person on your first day of unemployment. If the Agency is closed that day, register on the next day it is open for the registration to take effect from the closed day. You may also register up to three months before unemployment starts. Registration alone does not start payment.
The usual qualifying period is at least 12 months of unemployment insurance inside a 30-month framework. Qualifying periods may include insured work, certain periods of Krankengeld or raising a child under three, and voluntary unemployment insurance. Their own conditions apply. A six-month period exists only for the short fixed-term pattern in section 142 (2), together with its earnings condition. Months on a Minijob can fall outside insurance.
The rate is 67 percent of the flat-rate net when the child rule in section 149 applies, and 60 percent otherwise. The percentage is not applied to gross pay. Section 147 gives 6 months of benefit after 12 months of qualifying insurance, rising to 12 months after 24 months, and up to 15, 18 or 24 months from ages 50, 55 or 58 when the longer insurance periods are met.
There is no claim from the start of the month after you reach standard old-age pension age. If you do not qualify, you can ask separately about Grundsicherungsgeld, which comes under a different law.

What you need to know

Section 136 gives employees a claim when they are unemployed or in vocational further training. From the start of the month after you reach the age for the standard old-age pension, there is no claim.

For a claim based on unemployment, section 137 requires three things: you are unemployed, you have registered as unemployed with the Agency and you have fulfilled the qualifying period. Until the Agency decides, you may state that the claim should not arise, or should arise later.

Under section 141, register as unemployed electronically in the Agency’s specialist portal or in person at the responsible Agency. You may also register before unemployment begins if it is expected within the next three months. If the Agency is closed on your first day without work, registering on the next day it opens takes effect from the closed day.

The effect of your registration ends if unemployment is interrupted for more than six weeks. It also ends if you start employment, self-employment or work helping in a family business without telling the Agency at once.

Section 142 requires at least 12 months subject to unemployment insurance within the qualifying framework period. This can include insurance on application if its conditions are met. Under section 143, the framework is 30 months ending the day before all the other conditions are met. A shorter six-month qualifying period is available only for the pattern of short fixed-term work described in section 142(2), together with its earnings condition. Ask the Agency to check the full conditions against your contract history and earnings.

The Agency also counts other qualifying insured periods when their conditions are met. Examples include receiving Krankengeld, raising a child under three, and insurance on application during eligible self-employment. These periods do not by themselves waive the unemployment, registration or other conditions. Ask the Agency to assess your complete insurance record.

Under section 149, the benefit is 67 percent of flat-rate net earnings if you have a child within the meaning of the income-tax rules it cites. The rate also applies if your spouse or partner has such a child, provided both of you are fully tax-liable and do not live permanently apart. Otherwise the rate is 60 percent. The percentage applies to flat-rate net earnings, not gross salary.

Section 147 bases the duration on periods subject to unemployment insurance within the framework extended by 30 months and your age when the claim arises. Eligible non-work periods and insurance on application can count when their conditions are met; statutory exclusions also apply.

The benefit lasts 6 months after at least 12 months of insurance, 8 months after 16, 10 months after 20 and 12 months after 24. From ages 50, 55 and 58, it can last 15, 18 or 24 months if the insurance lasted at least 30, 36 or 48 months respectively.

The short qualifying pattern in section 142(2) has its own duration under section 147(3): 3, 4 or 5 months after 6, 8 or 10 months of insurance. Ask the Agency to check your record.

Meeting the insurance period does not remove the Sperrzeit rules in section 159. The Agency lists resignation, termination agreements, conduct-related dismissal and certain failures to cooperate or register as possible triggers. It also recognises important-reason exceptions, for example a properly evidenced health-related need to leave work. Ask before acting and keep supporting evidence; the 12/30-month rule alone does not guarantee immediate payment.

For a suspension for giving up work, section 159(1) requires that the person caused unemployment intentionally or through gross negligence and had no important reason. When those conditions are met, section 159(3) normally suspends benefit for twelve weeks and shortens that period in the cases it names.

Section 148(1) No. 4 reduces the total entitlement by the suspension days, with a minimum reduction of one quarter when the suspension lasts twelve weeks. Under section 148(2), no entitlement-duration reduction for giving up the job applies if the event was more than a year before the entitlement conditions were met.

A suspension for a missed reporting appointment or late seeking-work registration lasts one week under section 159(6), if the applicable conditions are met and there is no important reason. For a missed appointment, section 159(1) also requires notice of the legal consequences. The Agency assesses the circumstances. Other suspensions have their own lengths.

Noteملاحظة

This is a government bill, not law. Bundestag printed paper 21/7870, the bill to modernise and digitise employment promotion, had its first reading on 25 September 2026 and was referred to the Committee for Labour and Social Affairs. As of 22 October 2026 it has not been enacted. Check the adopted text before relying on it.

As drafted, unemployment registration under section 141 should preferably be filed online in the Agency portal. Filing in person would remain possible, and the draft does not make online filing compulsory. The registration would take effect only once identity is authenticated, online or in person, within seven calendar days after unemployment begins, or within seven calendar days after a later registration.

The bill’s commencement article dates that registration rule to 1 January 2028. The explanatory memorandum instead describes 1 April 2027 for the preferred online registration. The article itself dates video unemployment interviews and video reporting appointments to 1 April 2027.

The draft would apply the existing one-week suspension in section 159(6) to a missed video reporting appointment as well. Most other parts of the bill are dated 1 January 2027. This does not change the seeking-work registration in section 38.

What to do

Register as seeking work as soon as you know your job will end; the finding-work guide explains the deadline. This early step under section 38 does not replace unemployment registration under section 141.
Register as unemployed on the first day you are unemployed, electronically or in person. If that day is a day the Agency is closed, register on the next open day so the effect reaches back.
Check your qualifying unemployment-insurance periods inside the 30-month framework, including any eligible non-work or voluntary-insurance periods. The usual threshold is 12 months; the shorter route has its own conditions. Months on a Minijob can fall outside insurance. Do not count them unless the insurance rules say they count.
Apply for the benefit. The Agency calculates the rate as 67 or 60 percent of flat-rate net earnings under section 149. If you do not qualify, ask separately about Grundsicherungsgeld; it is a different form of support under a separate law.

Common mistakes

Expecting 60 or 67 percent of gross pay. Section 149 applies the percentage to flat-rate net earnings.
Using a 12-month window. The framework in section 143 is 30 months, and the qualifying time inside it is 12 months, unless the short-contract exception applies.
Assuming a residence title that does not allow work, or that has expired without section 81 protection, is irrelevant. The benefit rules sit on top of the right to take employment.