A-kassa: How Sweden's Unemployment Insurance System Actually Works

This article is for anyone who works, or will work, in Sweden and wants to understand unemployment insurance before they need it. It is not for someone who has not yet worked in Sweden: a newly arrived accompanying partner who has not started a job, or a student on a study permit. Nothing in this system pays out until there is work income behind it. If that is your situation, start with finding work in Sweden, partner and family permits or studying in Sweden. Come back once you have worked.

A-kassa (arbetslöshetskassa, an unemployment insurance fund; the word is used for both the insurance and the funds) is not one thing run by one office. It is one statutory insurance, run day to day by the funds, supervised by a separate inspection agency and entered through a third body. Most guides open with a number: a threshold, a percentage, a day count. This guide starts with the structure, because every number only makes sense once you know who owns which piece.

One insurance, three bodies: the a-kassor, IAF and Arbetsförmedlingen

Sweden runs unemployment insurance as one statutory scheme. Lag (2024:506) om arbetslöshetsförsäkring, 1 kap. 2 §, states it: "Arbetslöshetsförsäkringen är en inkomstbortfallsförsäkring som handhas av arbetslöshetskassorna". The insurance is an income-loss insurance administered by the arbetslöshetskassorna. One law, one insurance, many funds.

Three bodies touch your claim, and they are not interchangeable. Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment Service) is where you register. Its page says: "Börja med att skriva in dig på Arbetsförmedlingen första dagen du är arbetslös och ange att du vill söka ersättning från a-kassan," per Arbetsförmedlingen. Register on the first day you are unemployed and say that you want to claim a-kassa.

Arbetsförmedlingen does not decide your claim or pay it. That happens at your a-kassa: "Du ansöker om ersättningen hos din a-kassa, och det är de som svarar på frågor om din ersättning och din utbetalning," per the same page. Above both sits IAF, the inspection agency. It checks the bodies that handle claims: "Vi granskar arbetslöshetskassorna, Arbetsförmedlingen och Försäkringskassans arbete med att hantera några av våra trygghetssystem," per IAF. For a-kassa, that means the funds and Arbetsförmedlingen's part. The mention of Försäkringskassan concerns other systems.

What decides your payout level: membership or affiliation tenure

The level is set by tenure, not by which fund you belong to. Lag (2024:506), 5 kap. 4–6 §§, gives three levels, and the condition in each is membership of, or affiliation (anslutning) to, an a-kassa. Alfa-kassan uses ansluten for what other funds call a member. In its words: "Ansluten är vårt ord för medlem," per Alfa-kassan. Both count the same under the law.

The ramtid (the reference window) is the twelve months before the month you apply, not the year before you lost your job: "Med ramtid avses de tolv månader som närmast föregår den månad som sökanden ansöker om arbetslöshetsersättning för," per 3 kap. 12 §. The law's wording for the top level is: "Ersättningsnivån ska vara 80 procent av den ersättningsgrundande inkomsten om sökanden har varit medlem i eller ansluten till en arbetslöshetskassa under hela ramtiden". The membership or affiliation must also have lasted "under en sammanhängande tid av minst tolv månader", and you must still be "medlem eller ansluten under den månad som sökanden ansöker om arbetslöshetsersättning för". Leaving your fund after losing your job therefore drops you to 50 percent. The 60 percent rule reads "under minst de sista sex månaderna av ramtiden", needs six continuous months, and needs the monthly income amount in at least four of the months you were a member or affiliated. The 50 percent rule applies when the claimant "inte uppfyller kravet på medlemskap eller anslutning enligt 4 eller 5 §".

The level then steps down as the claim runs. 5 kap. 10 § says: "Ersättningsnivåerna i 4-7 §§ ska trappas ner med 10 procentenheter efter 100 ersättningsdagar i ersättningsperioden och med ytterligare 5 procentenheter efter 200 ersättningsdagar". Alfa-kassan repeats both points: "Efter 100 ersättningsdagar sänks ersättningsnivån med 10 procentenheter," per Alfa-kassan.

The level is applied to a capped income. Alfa-kassan states the cap: "Även om du har tjänat mer än 34 000 kronor i månaden, är det den högsta summan vi kan utgå från när vi räknar ut din ersättning," per Alfa-kassan. The exact payout at each level and each step is in income-related a-kassa vs Alfa-kassan. Joining as a foreign worker has its own gates, covered in joining an a-kassa as a foreign worker.

A-kassa covers you whether or not you join a fund

Calling a-kassa "voluntary insurance you join" is true of one decision inside it and false of coverage itself. You do not need to join anything to be inside the statutory scheme. For someone who is not a member, the law sets the 50 percent level, and Alfa-kassan says the same: "Om du inte är medlem får du 50 procent av din tidigare inkomst," per Alfa-kassan.

Nothing here is automatic. You still register with Arbetsförmedlingen, apply to the fund and meet the income test below. What membership or affiliation changes is the percentage: 60 percent after six months, 80 percent after twelve. Joining is a decision about the level, not about whether you are covered.

A union inkomstförsäkring sits on top

Many unions sell an inkomstförsäkring (income insurance) as a member benefit. It supplements a-kassa and is not a parallel route. Unionen states the dependency in its own words: "You should be a member of a Swedish unemployment insurance fund too, since the [sic] the unemployment insurance fund (a-kassa) is the basis that Unionen's Income insurance supplements," per Unionen. Check a union product only after your a-kassa membership is in place. What a given product adds on top is set by that union's own terms.

Försäkringskassan does not pay a-kassa

Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) runs many benefits, which makes it a natural but wrong guess for who pays a-kassa. The a-kassor pay it.

Försäkringskassan's link to unemployment is a different benefit for people placed in a programme: "Du som deltar i Arbetsförmedlingens program kan få aktivitetsstöd eller utvecklingsersättning," per Försäkringskassan. Aktivitetsstöd is a separate track from a-kassa.

The income test has two forms with different day counts

The current rules apply from 1 October 2025: "Den nya a-kassan gäller från och med 1 oktober 2025," per Arbetsförmedlingen. Eligibility turns on an inkomstvillkor (income condition) based on income from work. There are two forms of it, and guides often blur them.

The main form is in 3 kap. 2 §. It combines two requirements, joined by "och": "en viss minsta sammanlagd inkomst av förvärvsarbete, och en viss minsta inkomst av förvärvsarbete per månad under minst fyra månader". Arbetsförmedlingen gives the amounts: "Du ska ha tjänat totalt minst 120 000 kronor under året innan du blir arbetslös... och du ska ha tjänat minst 11 000 kronor i minst 4 av de 12 månaderna." Both conditions apply together.

Meeting the main form sets your ersättningsperiod (benefit period) by how many months reached the monthly amount, per 4 kap. 4 §. The law gives "100 ersättningsdagar om sökanden under minst fyra men mindre än åtta månader", then 200 days for eight to under eleven months and 300 days for eleven months or more.

The alternative form is in 3 kap. 3 §. If the total-income requirement is not met, the condition is still met "under minst fyra sammanhängande månader" at the monthly amount. That path does not reach the 100 to 300 day scale: "Ersättningsperioden för en sökande som har uppfyllt ett inkomstvillkor enligt 3 kap. 3 § är 66 ersättningsdagar," says 4 kap. 5 §. So 66 and 100 are not rival answers to one question. They are the outcomes of two different tests.

Take a reader whose pay reached the monthly amount in five consecutive months but whose twelve-month total stayed under SEK 120,000. That reader fails the main form, because it needs both numbers. The reader meets the alternative form and gets 66 days, not the 100 that a count of five months would suggest on the main scale. The detailed walk-through of which months count is in the income requirement guide.

Both forms need income from förvärvsarbete (gainful employment) in the ramtid. That is why this system does not yet apply to someone who has not worked in Sweden: there is no income to test.

If a fund says no

When your a-kassa decides against you, on the income test, on membership timing or on any other ground, the dispute goes through the appeal route for a-kassa decisions, not through Arbetsförmedlingen or IAF. Appealing an a-kassa denial covers the omprövning (reconsideration) step and the route to förvaltningsrätten (the administrative court).

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to join an a-kassa fund to be covered? No. For a non-member the law sets 50 percent, and Alfa-kassan pays it once you register and apply. Membership or affiliation raises the level to 60 percent after six months and 80 percent after twelve.

Does meeting the income test always give 100 days or more? No. Only the main inkomstvillkor, with both the total and the monthly condition, can give 100 to 300 days. The alternative, monthly-only condition gives a flat 66 days, per Lag (2024:506), 4 kap. 4–5 §§.

Can I get a-kassa before I have worked in Sweden? No. Both forms of the income test need income from work in the ramtid. If you have not worked in Sweden yet, start with finding work in Sweden.

The system in one pass

A-kassa is one statutory insurance. The a-kassor administer it, IAF supervises the funds and Arbetsförmedlingen's part, and Arbetsförmedlingen is where your claim starts, not where it is decided. Coverage exists whether or not you join a fund. Membership or affiliation tenure decides the level: 50, 60 or 80 percent, stepping down as the claim runs. A union inkomstförsäkring supplements the claim and Försäkringskassan does not pay it. The income test has two forms, and the gap between 66 days and 100 or more is the distinction that matters most near the threshold. This article is the foundation of the Work Rights & A-kassa hub.