UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT

Unemployment benefit is an insurance payment paid out under unemployment insurance which functions as a substitute for pay. It is intended, in the event of unemployment , to enable insured employees to maintain, with certain limitations, their former standard of living. The eligibility criteria for receiving unemployment benefit (Employment Promotion Act §§ 100 ff.) are firstly the completion of a qualifying period throughout which the employees concerned must have been in an employment relationship subject to compulsory insurance, and secondly that they must register as unemployed at the appropriate local Employment Office. The minimum qualifying period is currently one full year of employment.

At present, unemployed workers with at least one dependent child receive 68 per cent. (63 per cent. in other cases) of their last net pay. The period of entitlement varies according to age and ranges from 12 months for claimants aged up to 42 to 32 months for those aged 54 and over.