How many days of unemployment benefit (job-seeking benefit) you get in Korea depends on your “insured period” and your age on the leaving date (Employment Insurance Act Art. 50(1) and Schedule 1, 120 to 270 days). The insured period is, as a rule, the time employed at the workplace you left (paragraph (3)). Paragraph (4) item 1 makes an exception — if you acquired insured status at the current job within 3 years of the date you lost it at the previous one, the previous job’s period is added, unless you were paid job-seeking benefit on leaving that previous job, in which case it is left out. The date of loss is the day after you left (Art. 14(1) item 3). Enter up to three jobs’ dates and the calculator shows which periods are added and your prescribed benefit days.
1. When periods are added — insured status acquired at the current job within 3 years of the loss date (the day after leaving) at the previous job (Art. 50(4) item 1).
2. When they are not — if job-seeking benefit was paid because of the loss at the previous job, that job’s period is excluded (proviso to the same item).
3. Our example — employed 4 March 2019 to 31 August 2022 (1,277 days), no benefit claimed, then insured again from 12 May 2025 and leaving 30 October 2026, aged 48. Three years from the loss date of 1 September 2022 end on 31 August 2025, so the periods are added — an insured period of 1,814 days (3 to under 5 years) gives 180 days. The current job’s 537 days alone would give 150.
Calculator
Results update as you type. Dates as YYYY-MM-DD. Each period counts both ends, from acquisition to leaving, in days; the loss date is the day after leaving (Art. 14(1) item 3). The end of “3 years from the date of loss” is worked out under Civil Act Art. 157 proviso (the first day counts when the period starts at midnight) and Art. 160 as the day before the same date three years after the loss date — using the Civil Act here, and not moving the end past a weekend or holiday, are our reading. The 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year lines of Schedule 1 are compared as days ÷ 365 (our arithmetic — within a few days of a line, check with the job centre). Leave out periods employed as an excluded worker (Arts. 10 and 10-2).
Article 50 and Schedule 1 — as written
| Provision | What the text says | Points to note (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Art. 50(1) | The days on which job-seeking benefit may be paid under one eligibility (the “prescribed benefit days”) are counted from the day after the waiting period ends until the number of days set in Schedule 1 by insured period and age is reached. | A grid of insured period × age |
| Art. 50(3) | The insured period is the time employed at the covered workplace at the separation relating to the eligibility (excluding time employed as an excluded worker under Arts. 10 and 10-2 …). | The rule is the last job only |
| Art. 50(4) item 1 | Where insured status was lost at a former covered workplace and acquired at the current one within 3 years from the date of loss: the insured period at the former workplace is added. But where job-seeking benefit was paid because of the loss of insured status at the former workplace, the insured period at that former workplace is excluded. | The heart of this calculator |
| Art. 50(4) item 2 | Where an insured self-employed person who was formerly employed … re-acquires insured status as self-employed within 3 years: the former period is not added, but is added only where the person asks for it. | Self-employed: only on request — outside this calculator |
| Art. 50(5) | For an insured person whose acquisition was not reported … the insured period is counted as if status was acquired on the first day of the insurance year in which the date 3 years back falls. | Late-reported time is cut — 3-year look-back calculator |
| Art. 14(1) item 3 | Where an insured worker leaves employment: the day after the day of leaving | The loss date from which the 3 years run |
Schedule 1 — prescribed days of job-seeking benefit (amended 27 Aug. 2019)
| Insured period | Under 50 | 50 or over |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 120 days | 120 days |
| 1 to under 3 years | 150 days | 180 days |
| 3 to under 5 years | 180 days | 210 days |
| 5 to under 10 years | 210 days | 240 days |
| 10 years or more | 240 days | 270 days |
Schedule 1 note: a disabled person under Art. 2 item 1 of the Act on the Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons is treated as 50 or over. Age is taken on the leaving date.
Who counts as a “disabled person” here. Art. 2 item 1 of that Act defines a disabled person as someone whose working life is substantially limited over a long period by a physical or mental disability and who meets the criteria set by Presidential Decree. Art. 3(1) of its Enforcement Decree gives two criteria: (1) meeting the disability criteria in Art. 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities, or (2) meeting the injury-grade criteria in Art. 14(3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Honorable Treatment of Persons of Distinguished Service to the State (including where applied to persons eligible for veterans’ compensation). Art. 3(2) says this can be confirmed by a disability registration card, diagnosis or detailed assessment records, or a veterans registration card. Severity of disability is not a condition here (our reading — only Art. 2 item 1 is referred to).
Where the “3 years” start and end — our arithmetic
The 3 years run not from the previous job’s leaving date but from the date of loss, the day after leaving (Art. 14(1) item 3). The loss date starts at the beginning of the day (midnight), so it counts (Civil Act Art. 157 proviso), and the period ends the day before the same date three years later (Art. 160(2)). Leaving on 31 August 2022 makes the loss date 1 September 2022, and the 3 years end on 31 August 2025 — acquiring at the current job by that day means the periods are added; on 1 September 2025 they are not (our arithmetic). We have not read whether the Employment Insurance Act has its own rule for counting these 3 years.
Six cases — our examples
| Case (our example, aged 48) | Result | Points to note (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Previous job 2019-03-04 to 2022-08-31, current job 2025-05-12 to 2026-10-30 | 1,277 days + 537 days = 1,814 days → 180 days | Current job alone: 150 days |
| Same dates, benefit paid on leaving the previous job | 537 days → 150 days | Proviso to para. (4) item 1 |
| Current job acquired 2025-09-01 | 425 days only → 150 days | One day past the 3-year end of 2025-08-31 |
| Current job acquired 2025-08-31 | 1,277 + 426 = 1,703 days → 180 days | The last day of the 3 years — added |
| Same dates as the first case, aged 52 | 1,814 days → 210 days | The 50-or-over row (current job alone: 180 days) |
| First case plus an earlier job 2014-01-02 to 2018-12-31 (no benefit) | 1,825 + 1,277 + 537 = 3,639 days → 210 days | Acquired 2019-03-04, within 3 years of the 2019-01-01 loss date — chained (our reading) |
The last case is 3,639 ÷ 365 = 9.97 years, so it sits in the 5-to-under-10-years row. Eleven more days (3,650) would have put it in the 10-year row (240 days), so near a line like this, check the insured period with the job centre. Chaining three jobs is our reading that previous job 1’s insured period already includes the job before it.
The insured period is not the insured unit period
Whether you qualify for benefit is decided separately by the insured unit period in the base period before leaving (Arts. 40 and 41 — provisions we do not quote here, so we leave them to the insured unit period calculator). The insured period here decides how many days you get once you qualify, and the calculator counts employed days on the calendar (our arithmetic). Mix the two up and it is hard to see why someone who met the unit-period test still gets only 120 days.
Related calculators
- How much a day — the base daily wage (average wage, ordinary wage, cap) in the base daily wage calculator; the total in the unemployment benefit calculator.
- Whether you qualify — the reason for leaving in the separation code checker and the voluntary quit checker.
- Until when — the 12 months from the day after leaving in the benefit period calculator.
- How to apply — the unemployment benefit application guide.
Checklist
- ☐ Each job’s acquisition and leaving dates (insured status history on Work24)
- ☐ Whether you were paid job-seeking benefit on leaving the previous job
- ☐ Whether the current job started within 3 years of the previous loss date (the day after leaving)
- ☐ Whether you were 50 or over on the leaving date, or a disabled person
- ☐ Whether any period was reported late (Art. 50(5))
Questions that remain
What if I was recognised as eligible at the previous job but never actually paid?
The text excludes the period where “job-seeking benefit was paid”. With no payment, we read the proviso as not applying (our reading — we have not read the ministry’s interpretations). Choose “no” in the calculator.
I worked for two employers at the same time for a while.
To avoid counting the same days twice, the calculator stops if job periods overlap. How overlapping insured periods are counted is not covered here.
I am insured as self-employed — is my old job’s period added?
Article 50(4) item 2 says that where a self-employed person re-acquires status within 3 years, the former period is added only where the person asks for it. This calculator covers employees (item 1) only — for the self-employed side see the self-employed unemployment benefit calculator.
Sources
- Korean Law Information Center — Employment Insurance Act Arts. 13, 14 and 50 and Schedule 1 — original text (current version, in force 18 September 2026, Act No. 21473; checked 11 November 2026). Schedule 1 as amended 27 August 2019.
- Korean Law Information Center — Civil Act Arts. 157 and 160 — original text (current version, in force 17 March 2026, Act No. 21454; checked 11 November 2026). The starting point of a period and calendar computation.
- Korean Law Information Center — Act on the Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Art. 2 and its Enforcement Decree Art. 3 — Act (current version, in force 12 May 2026, Act No. 21138) · Decree (in force 12 May 2026, Presidential Decree No. 36286); checked 11 November 2026. Definition, the two criteria and the documents that confirm them.
- Not read. Detailed rules on counting the insured period in the Decree and Rule, how overlapping acquisitions are handled, ministry interpretations on counting “1 year” and “3 years” by days or by calendar, the reading where eligibility was recognised but nothing paid, and the detailed disability criteria in Art. 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities.
- What we added. Ending the 3 years by the Civil Act, picking the Schedule row by days ÷ 365, chaining three jobs, and the “points to note” column.
Where to check further
- Job centre (Work24) — your insured status history, and the insured period and prescribed days set when eligibility is recognised.
Written on 11 November 2026. The provisions are quoted from the original; the readings and arithmetic are ours.
