Conditions when receiving compensation from unemployment insurance

When you have compensation from the unemployment insurance fund (a-kassa), you must be actively applying for suitable jobs and turn in an activity report (aktivitetsrapport) to the Public Employment Service every month. Read more here about what you must do to avoid getting a warning or not receiving compensation for one or more days.

What do I need to do?

So as to not risk losing your compensation for one or more days, you need to keep looking for work and adhering to the plans and agreements you have made with us.

This means that you need to

  • apply for at least six suitable jobs per month (unless your action plan has a different number). For example, advertised vacancies and jobs that Arbetsförmedlingen has brought to your attention, or submit spontaneous applications to employers
  • apply for the jobs we have encouraged you to apply for
  • submit your activity report to us between the first and the fourteenth of each month, filling in all the jobs you have applied for and other activities you have completed
  • develop an action plan together with us that sets out how you are going to find a job
  • participate in meetings or contact us and our suppliers at scheduled times and answer the phone when we have agreed to call you.

So as not to prolong your unemployment and risk being left without compensation for several days, you also need to accept

  • jobs you are offered
  • job interviews and do your best to receive a job offer
  • extra support through programmes we offer you

You may be deemed to have caused your own unemployment and risk being left without compensation for several days if you

  • choose to leave a programme or a job without a valid reason
  • act in a way that makes us terminate your programme
  • cause your employer to terminate your employment

What happens if I do not do what I am supposed to?

Arbetsförmedlingen’s assignment includes informing your unemployment insurance fund if something happens that may affect your compensation. We will send a message to your unemployment insurance fund if you neglect your job-seeking or prolong or cause your unemployment. If your unemployment insurance fund starts an investigation, they contact you and you are given the opportunity to describe what has happened before they make a decision about the compensation.

Your unemployment insurance fund may decide to issue you a warning or suspend you from compensation for one or more days. They may also decide that your compensation will not be affected, for example if they make the assessment that you have a valid reason.

  • First time: you are issued a warning.
  • Second time: One day without compensation.
  • Third time: Five days without compensation.
  • Fourth time: Ten days without compensation.
  • Fifth time: the entitlement to compensation is suspended until you have fulfilled a new working condition.

  • First time: Five days without compensation.
  • Second time: Ten days without compensation.
  • Third time: 45 days without compensation.
  • Fourth time: 45 days without compensation.
  • Fifth time: the entitlement to compensation is suspended until you have fulfilled a new working condition.

  • First time: 45 days without compensation.
  • Second time: 45 days without compensation.
  • Third time: the entitlement to compensation is suspended until you have fulfilled a new working condition.

If we learn of something that may affect your potential to search for work and accept job offers

If we learn of something that could prevent you from applying for work and accepting job offers, we must inform your unemployment insurance fund. For example, this might be that you are studying, are sick, are looking after sick children, have a company or are abroad. If the unemployment insurance fund starts an investigation, they will contact you before they decide whether this affects your entitlement to compensation.

We will also inform your unemployment insurance fund when you have informed us that you have started working and are no longer unemployed or are no longer a jobseeker for some other reason. If you subsequently want to look for work and apply for compensation again, you need to call us on the first day you are unemployed. If you have deregistered from Arbetsförmedlingen, you need to register again.

Frequently asked questions

How many jobs should I apply for?

Your action plan may have what is called a “search interval”, such as 6-20. This describes how many suitable jobs you should apply for in order to have the best chance of getting a job as quickly as possible. The lowest number in the search interval also refers to how many suitable jobs you must apply for each month in order for us to consider you to be actively searching for work.

Even if you do not have an action plan or if your action plan has no search interval, you need to be actively applying for jobs. That ordinarily means that you should apply for at least 6 suitable jobs per month in order for us to consider you to be actively searching for work. If you are working part time or if for some other reason you are not unemployed full time, you might not need to apply for as many jobs.

If there are not enough suitable jobs to apply to near the area where you live, it is important to apply in other areas as well.

If you have applied for fewer suitable jobs than described above, we will notify your unemployment insurance fund. If in their opinion you have not actively applied for suitable jobs, they will decide on a warning, or deny you compensation for one or more days.

Be sure to enter every job you have applied for in your activity report: job listings, spontaneous applications, or jobs we have suggested or urged you to apply for. Your activity report is an important document for us to be able to assess whether you have actively been searching for suitable jobs.

What is deemed to be a suitable job?

Jobs in which you have experience or training/education are suitable for you to apply to. Other jobs where your skills would apply are also suitable. Applying for jobs in several different professions will increase your opportunities to get a job. Consider that these must be jobs that you have a realistic chance of getting. Jobs that require particular training, a certain education level, certification or authorisation that you do not have are not suitable.

If for medical reasons you cannot apply for or accept certain types of jobs, you must certify that with a medical certificate.

If an employer wants to hire you and thinks you have the right skills, the job is suitable. Contact your unemployment insurance fund if you are offered a job and are unsure of whether it is a suitable job, for example in terms of work environment or hiring conditions. In that case, you will find out if this might affect your compensation if you turn down the job.

I am studying a course in order to increase my chances of finding a job. Why do I need approval from the unemployment insurance fund?

The main rule is that you are not allowed to study and receive compensation from unemployment insurance at the same time. There are exceptions and it is always the unemployment insurance fund that decides whether you can keep receiving compensation while studying. That is why it is important to contact your unemployment insurance fund before you start a course or training programme. This is the case regardless of type of studies, how much time you spend on your studies and whether they are in the daytime, evening or at the weekend. If Arbetsförmedlingen finds out that you are studying and does not have any information to the effect that the unemployment insurance fund has approved the studies, we must inform your unemployment insurance fund about the studies.

If you get approval to study while receiving compensation from the unemployment insurance fund, the studies must not affect your job-seeking. You must also be prepared to interrupt your studies if you are offered a job.

I have got a new job but have not yet started work. Do I have to keep looking for other work?

As long as you are unemployed and want to receive compensation from unemployment insurance, you must continue to be active and apply for jobs. That is one of the conditions of unemployment insurance. In this case you can apply for temporary jobs.

If you have a contract for a new job that you will begin soon, that may be an acceptable reason to turn down another job or to not apply to a job that we suggested you apply for. Contact your unemployment insurance fund for information about what applies in your case. Remember to continue to apply for jobs on your own. You should also notify the Public Employment Service that you have a new job.

Monitoring jobs applied for

We sometimes investigate whether you have applied for the jobs you have registered in your activity report. It is therefore important that you save documentation that can prove you have applied for these jobs.

Information about proving you have applied for jobs

Information about compensation from unemployment insurance

When you are unemployed it may be possible to receive compensation from unemployment insurance while you are looking for work. You can apply to your unemployment insurance fund for this compensation. In this section you can read about how to apply, what is required in order to receive compensation and how much money you could receive.

Compensation from unemployment insurance