Unemployment benefit: What changes are coming in 2024 – How it will be calculated

Increasing the unemployment benefit and linking it to the salary received by the unemployed in the last years of his employment before his unemployment, will include one of the first bills that will bring the Ministry of Labor to the Parliament for a vote, in the first months of 2024.

According to information, the bill will drastically change the way it is granted, in order to connect it with the working and insurance life of the unemployed.

Increase

Among the proposals that the Ministry of Labor is considering to include in the bill is the increase in the amount of the unemployment benefit, which will be linked to the amount of the unemployed person’s average salary in recent years, before he or she becomes unemployed. This will be valid for a certain period of time.

That is, during the first six months of unemployment, the allowance should be close to the average salary. Subsequently, it will be gradually reduced and by the end of the subsidy period, it will reach the current levels (at 479 euros).

The main difference of the new procedure is that the amount of the allowance that will be granted will be linked to the salary that the unemployed person received when he was working. Essentially, it will result an average salary of recent years before the unemployed person loses his job. A percentage of this will be the allowance he will receive. In the first six months, about 60% of the average salary of the last years will be granted.

In the remaining months the unemployment benefit will return to the current basis i.e. it will be a percentage of the minimum wage on the basis that already exists, i.e. as a percentage of the minimum wage.

What currently applies to unemployment benefit

It is reminded that as of April 1st, the unemployment benefit has been set at 479 euros. This will also be the minimum limit that will be instituted for the granting of this specific benefit, below which no one will “fall” unemployed.

Today the benefit is granted for 5 to 12 months, depending on the days of work that the beneficiaries have done. The amount of the subsidy is fixed for everyone (479 euros) and depends on the minimum wage. The benefit receives only a small portion of the unemployed, reaching only 10% of the registered unemployed.

Source: ot.gr