Are you thinking about resigning from your current job and would like to know how unemployment benefit (podpora v nezaměstnanosti) is calculated. What are the differences between you handing in your resignation and the employer dismissing you? And then there is the ending of employment because a fixed-term contract is not extended. We will show you how unemployment benefit is calculated using specific examples.
What is unemployment benefit?
As the name suggests, this is a benefit, or a payment from the state, for the time when you do not have a job. You are only entitled to it if, over the last two years, you paid pension insurance for at least 12 months. In other words, you were employed, or you were self-employed and paid your own social security contributions.
What affects the amount of unemployment benefit?
The amount of unemployment benefit is affected by whether the employee resigned or was dismissed. Severance pay also needs to be mentioned here. If you, as the employee, handed in your resignation, you are entitled to 45% of your earnings for the period set by law. However, if you were dismissed, you get 65%. How does severance pay affect this? We will show you with a simple example.
Example 1
Mr Václav was made redundant. His average net earnings were 30,000 CZK (about 1,400 USD). Because he had worked at the company for 2 years, he is entitled to 2 months of severance pay, a total of 60,000 CZK (about 2,800 USD).
Unemployment benefit comes to 65% of 30,000 CZK (about 1,400 USD) = 19,500 CZK (about 890 USD)
And because Mr Václav received severance pay from his employer, his unemployment benefit will only be paid from the 3rd month that he is registered with the Labour Office (úřad práce, ÚP).
What role does age play here?
As you may have noticed in Example 1, we mentioned that unemployment benefit will only be paid from the 3rd month. We have not talked about the number of months so far, but a fairly simple rule applies here. By law, the Labour Office, which pays out the benefit, distinguishes 3 categories. The first category is everyone up to the age of 50, the second category is in the range between 50 and 55. The last category is people over 55.
- category – unemployment benefit paid for 5 months
- category – unemployment benefit paid for 8 months
- category – this is the longest payment period, 11 months
Logically, the state benefit is higher with increasing age, because it can be harder to find a job.
What if I resign myself or my contract ends?
If you resign yourself, a different rule applies here, namely that the length of the payment period does not change, only its amount changes. Let us show this again with a simple example
Example 2
Mrs Irena, who is 56 years old, resigned from a job where her average net monthly wage was 25,000 CZK (about 1,100 USD). She naturally has no entitlement to severance pay, and the amount will be as follows:
45% of 25,000 CZK (about 1,100 USD) = 11,250 CZK (about 520 USD) -> for the whole 8 months that Mrs Irena will receive unemployment benefit, it will come to 11,250 CZK (about 520 USD)
Example 3
Let us look at one more example to explain what it looks like when a fixed-term contract expires and is not extended.
Mr Tomáš (53 years old) had a contract until the end of August this year, and his employer did not extend the contract because of a low volume of orders. Mr Tomáš had average net earnings of 40,000 CZK (about 1,800 USD).
65% of 40,000 CZK (about 1,800 USD) = 26,000 CZK (about 1,200 USD)
Unemployment benefit by individual month:
- 1st – 2nd month -> 20,533 CZK (about 940 USD)
- 3rd – 4th month -> 20,000 CZK (about 920 USD)
- 5th – 8th month -> 18,000 CZK (about 830 USD)
As you correctly noticed, Mr Tomáš did not receive 65% of 40,000 CZK (about 1,800 USD), but less, and this is because unemployment benefit is capped at 58% of the average wage in the Czech Republic. The amount of the average wage is set by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Ministerstvo práce a sociálních věcí, MPSV). The example also shows that the benefit decreases continuously the longer it is paid. In general, the longer unemployment benefit is received, the lower its amount becomes.
Unemployment benefit after maternity leave
Are you wondering whether a mother is entitled to benefit after maternity leave ends? If the woman’s employment was ended before she went on maternity leave, or it ended while she was on parental leave, she is not entitled to the standard unemployment benefit. However, she is entitled to an allowance, which is calculated from the current average wage in the Czech Republic. In 2022, this amount was 37,047 CZK (about 1,700 USD).
For the first two months, the allowance for a woman after parental leave is 15% of 37,047 CZK (about 1,700 USD), which is 5,558 CZK (about 260 USD). For the next two months it is 12%, so 4,446 CZK (about 200 USD), and the remaining months 4,076 CZK (about 190 USD).
Also read my unemployment benefit has ended, what next or how to manage money.
USD amounts are approximate, converted at the Czech National Bank rate of 21.80 CZK per USD on 2 October 2026.
