Which countries provide the highest unemployment benefits?

Unemployment benefits play an important role in financially supporting job seekers and helping them access training and employment support programs. It is often assumed that in developed countries, job seekers can count on steady and reliable access to financial support but in reality, that isn’t the case. OECD data shows that in most countries, only a minority of jobseekers receive unemployment benefits with systems varying considerably between different countries.

The following infographic provides an overview of coverage rates in a selection of OECD countries with Finland the highest at 63.7 per cent. The gap with neighbouring Sweden shows just how different systems can be and coverage there stands at just 21 per cent. Belgium and France are at the higher end of the coverage scale of 60 and 42 per cent respectively. In the United States, coverage is even less at just 12.4 per cent. Across 24 countries, fewer than one-in-four jobseekers get unemployment benefits on average.