You’ve completed your PhD studies

Unemployment benefits as an employee based on work

If you are employed as a PhD during your PhD studies, you may qualify for unemployment benefits based on your employment. You must have been a member of the unemployment insurance fund for more than a year and meet an income requirement of 273,504 (2025) kroner.

We can take a maximum of DKK 22,791 (2025) of your income per month. If you have previously received unemployment benefits and your unemployment benefit period is still valid, you must meet an employment requirement of 1,924 hours to earn a new unemployment benefit period. 

If you receive unemployment benefits based on work in your PhD employment, you may be eligible for the highest unemployment benefit rate. 

Unemployment benefits as a recent graduate based on your PhD education

If you have not been a member of an unemployment insurance fund for more than 1 year, you have the opportunity to receive unemployment benefits as a recent graduate after completing your PhD. If you wish to apply for unemployment benefits as a recent graduate, you have 14 days from the completion of your PhD to join the unemployment insurance fund or change your status to recent graduate.

If, at the time of completing your PhD, you have been a member of an unemployment insurance fund for less than a year, you will be able to receive unemployment benefits one month after completing your PhD. 

See the unemployment benefit rates

You must be available for the Danish job market

When you receive unemployment benefits, you must be available to the job market. This means you must attend meetings with the unemployment insurance fund or the job center, search and apply for jobs, or be able to take a job on a day-to-day basis.

If your PhD employment ends and you have not yet submitted your PhD dissertation, you can only receive unemployment benefits if you are no longer enrolled in the PhD program. Therefore, you must withdraw from the program if you wish to receive unemployment benefits. 

You are allowed to work on your PhD dissertation while unemployed, but it must not prevent you from attending mandatory meetings, applying for jobs, or taking up employment.

The day you defend your PhD, you will not be able to receive unemployment benefits, as you are not available on that day. 

When is a PhD considered completed?

As a rule, your PhD is considered completed when you have defended your dissertation and been awarded the PhD degree. In that case, you have 14 days to inform us that you have completed your PhD.

However, your PhD can also be considered completed at the end of the month in which you submit your dissertation and your supervisor has stated that the course of study has been satisfactorily completed. You have 14 days from the end of the month in which you submitted your dissertation to inform us that you have completed your PhD. 

Register as unemployed

Whether you have already been a member for more than 1 year or are joining within 14 days of completing your PhD, you can receive unemployment benefits when you register as unemployed on jobnet.dk.

On your first day as unemployed, you must register as unemployed at your local job center or on jobnet.dk and follow the steps described in our guide for the unemployed. Once you have done this, we will assess your eligibility for unemployment benefits.

Citizens from a country outside the EEA can receive unemployment benefits

As a PhD student from a country outside the EEA, you can become a member of an unemployment insurance fund and receive unemployment benefits under the rules applicable to salaried employees. You can apply for a residence and work permit from the Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) while receiving unemployment benefits.

However, this requires that you have been a paying member of the unemployment insurance fund for at least one year before completing your studies. You must also have had the equivalent of 1,924 paid working hours during the membership period (e.g., from your PhD studies, which are considered paid employment).

You should be aware that the right to unemployment benefits depends on having a residence permit that allows you to work full-time. If you have a study residence permit, you cannot receive unemployment benefits, not even during the summer months when you can work full-time.

When you finish your PhD, you can obtain a residence permit in the form of an Establishment Card. The card allows you to work full-time and receive unemployment benefits if you have been a member for at least one year while working as a PhD.