Two types of cash unemployment benefits may be claimed in Hungary: jobseeker’s allowance and jobseeker’s assistance before pension. In addition, jobseekers are entitled to refunds of expenses, and various active labour market instruments are available (e.g. labour market consultancy, mediation, assistance in becoming self-employed, training).
The jobseeker’s allowance can be claimed by anyone who is looking for work (regardless of whether he or she had been an employee or entrepreneur in the past), who had a period of entitlement for at least 360 days within five years prior to becoming a jobseeker, does not receive social insurance benefits, and to whom the relevant job centre cannot provide an appropriate job. The jobseeker’s allowance is calculated on the basis of the monthly average amount of the labour market contribution base achieved – or paid in the case of an entrepreneurial relationship – in the relevant legal framework, in the four calendar quarters preceding the submission of the application.
Following disbursement (expiry) of the jobseeker’s allowance, there are other possibilities for claiming benefits: at the jobseeker’s request, jobseeker’s assistance is provided if he or she qualifies for the jobseeker’s allowance in terms of the insurance period, the jobseeker’s allowance was provided to him or her for a period of at least 45 days, the allowance has expired, and at the time of submitting the application, there are not more than five years until he or she reaches the applicable retirement age, and he or she has reached such age within three years from exhausting the payment of the jobseeker’s allowance.
Hungary plans to expand its public work program and eliminate unemployment assistance altogether by 2018.
You can find out more about your social rights in Hungary in a downloadable PDF published by the European Commission.
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