Unemployment benefit 2026: amount, duration and how to get it

• The minimum payment is ₼400: it equals the minimum monthly wage set for the country.
• 50% of the lost average monthly wage is calculated; for the first 2 months 100%, months 3–4 80% and months 5–6 70% of that amount is paid, but never less than the minimum.
• A person with a child under 18 in their care gets 5% for each child on top. If both spouses are assigned the payment, only one gets the supplement.
• The law caps the payment at the previous year’s national average monthly wage; that figure was not read on an official source, so it is not shown here.

Source: sosial.gov.az: unemployment insurance, Law “On unemployment insurance” (e-qanun.az)

Insured people registered as unemployed whose employment ended on one of these grounds:

• A state body or legal entity was liquidated, or a sole employer ceased activity.
• Staff numbers or posts were cut.
• The employment contract expired.
• The owner of the enterprise changed.
• The person was reinstated by a court ruling.
• The person was released from conscript service and used the right to return to the former job.
• Resigning of one’s own will is not on this list.

Source: sosial.gov.az: unemployment insurance, Law “On unemployment insurance” (e-qanun.az)

The period depends on the ground for dismissal and the insurance record.

• The employment contract expiredAt least 24 months of insurance record on fixed-term contracts in the last 36 months; the minimum amount is paid and there is no right to a repeat claim. 3 months
• Liquidation, staff cuts, change of owner, reinstatementWith more than 12 months of insurance record in the last 24 months; the amount is based on the lost wage. 6 months
• Repeat claimOnce within 24 months of the first assignment, at the minimum (except after a contract expiry). 3 months

For one person the payment period cannot exceed 9 months within the 24 months after the first assignment.

Source: sosial.gov.az: unemployment insurance, Law “On unemployment insurance” (e-qanun.az)

1. Register as unemployed: at a local body of the State Employment Agency or a DOST centre.
2. Apply for the insurance payment.
3. The application is considered within 10 days; you are told whether the payment is assigned or refused.
4. The payment is counted from the first day of the month after the individual employment programme is approved.
5. Once a month a report on the programme is submitted.

Source: sosial.gov.az: unemployment insurance

The main cases:

• The person has found work (including starting without telling the agency).
• The individual employment programme was not carried out without good reason, or the monthly report was not submitted.
• A suitable job offer was refused: for one year.
• The person was admitted to full-time study at a university or college.
• Grounds arose for an old-age pension or benefit.
• The period set by law has ended.

Source: sosial.gov.az: unemployment insurance