Unemployment benefit is paid to laid-off citizens and is determined based on their average monthly earnings. The Ministry of Labor annually revises the minimum and maximum amounts of benefits.
To receive payments, it is necessary that two conditions are simultaneously met:
- the unemployed must be registered with the Employment Service;
- he must work until receiving benefits for at least 26 weeks.
The rules for calculating the amount of benefits have not changed in recent years. To determine the amount of due payments, you need to multiply the average monthly salary for the last three months by 75%. The unemployed will receive this amount in the first three months after dismissal, in the next 4 months - 60% of the average income, in the future only 45%. The maximum period for receiving payments is 24 months. (in the general case - up to a year).
However, the amount of payments cannot be infinitely large, its limit is determined by the Ministry of Labor. It also sets a minimum threshold for payments due regardless of income.
In December 2015, it became known that the unemployment benefit for 2016 will remain unchanged. Its minimum value will be only 850 rubles, and the maximum - 4900 rubles. These standards were approved back in 2009 (in 2008 they were 781 and 3124 rubles, respectively). Since then, the amount of the benefit has not changed, despite all the talk in the government about the need to increase it.
Thus, the maximum allowance for the unemployed is almost two times less than the average Russian subsistence minimum (it amounted to 9662 rubles in 2015). The Ministry of Labor stated that they could increase the amount of the benefit in 2016 if the amount of funding for the year allows it (40 billion rubles). The possibility of increasing benefits to the unemployed by abolishing the minimum threshold and reducing the term of payments is being discussed.
It should be noted that in some Russian regions, regional coefficients have been introduced that increase the amount of payments to the unemployed (for example, the northern allowances).
