Legislative changes coming

Topics

• Income security
• Law change

The government has proposed a legislative amendment that would extend the suspension period. The proposal is still under consideration. The amendment is intended to come into force in March 2026. In addition, the government has proposed replacing the basic daily allowance and labor market subsidy with a universal subsidy.

Suspensions are becoming stricter

If you do not follow the instructions of the employment authority, you may be subject to a suspension without compensation. During the suspension period, we cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance.

After the proposed amendment to the law, a seven-day suspension period would be imposed for the first reprehensible act. In addition, the right to unemployment security could be lost indefinitely after the second repeat offense. Currently, the right to unemployment security can only be lost indefinitely after the fourth offense.

The purpose of the amendment is to emphasize the job seeker’s own responsibility for finding employment.

The proposed amendment only applies to suspensions related to job seeking and employment services. For example, the suspension following voluntary resignation would remain unchanged.

Changes to job seeker services

Changes will be made to the service process of employment authorities starting January 1, 2026. The goal of these changes is to help job seekers find work faster.

The government proposal suggests the following changes:

• The deadline for arranging the initial interview with the job seeker would be extended
• The arrangement of supplementary job search discussions as part of the service process would be based more strongly on the job seeker’s service needs, and the formulaic arrangement of such discussions would be abandoned
• The obligation to apply for jobs assigned to job seekers by the employment authority would be increased
• Persons registered as job seekers would be required to create and publish a job search profile by a specified date (September 1, 2026)
• Employment authorities would be given a new statutory duty to create and publish a jobseeker profile if the jobseeker fails to create or publish a profile by the deadline (September 1, 2026)
• The range of entities that can search and view job seeker profiles published on the service platform would be expanded

Universal subsidy

The government has also proposed replacing labor market support and basic daily allowance with a universal subsidy. This would make the current unemployment security system more clearly two-tiered.

Currently, labor market support can be obtained if you become unemployed but have not fulfilled the working condition or have used up the maximum payment period for unemployment allowance. Basic daily allowance can be obtained if you have fulfilled the working condition but do not meet the membership requirements of the unemployment fund. The replacement universal subsidy combines these.

The universal subsidy would be the same amount as the current basic allowance and labor market subsidy. In 2025, the basic allowance and labor market support will be 800 € per month. The biggest change with regard to the current basic allowance is that universal subsidy would be means-tested, as is currently the case with labor market support. This means that universal subsidy would not be available to applicants who have sufficient dividend or rental income, for example.

The separation of universal subsidy from earnings-related daily allowance is emphasized by the fact that when switching from universal subsidy to earnings-related daily allowance, a suspension period would be imposed in the same way as when unemployment begins. The suspension period for universal subsidy would therefore not be counted towards earnings-related daily allowance. In addition, the days paid as universal subsidy would not be taken into account in the maximum period for earnings-related daily allowance, but the maximum period for earnings-related daily allowance would start from the beginning when transferring from universal subsidy. During the transition period, the suspension period could, under certain conditions, be taken into account in the payment of earnings-related daily allowance, according to the proposal.

The universal subsidy is intended to come into force in spring 2026.