To get Jobseeker’s Allowance usually you must be unemployed. However, there are circumstances in which you can work and get Jobseeker’s Allowance. For example:
You must meet all the other conditions for Jobseeker’s Allowance. For example, you must pass a means test and be unemployed for at least 3 days out of 6. You must also continue to look for full-time work.
Jobseeker’s Allowance is a means-tested payment; your household income must be below a certain level to qualify. Income from work is assessed as means and can affect your Jobseeker's Allowance payment. Your spouse's or partner's income from work can also affect your Jobseeker’s Allowance payment. However, only a certain amount of income from work is taken into account. This is called your means from work.
Your income from working as a home-help with the Health Service Executive (HSE) will not affect your payment but your spouse's or partner's home-help income will be taken into account in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Other sources of income or means can also affect your Jobseeker's Allowance payment. Here we are only looking at how means from work can affect Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Jobseeker’s Allowance is not taxable.
If your income from work is reduced or you are working part-time and you are supporting at least one child you may get FIS. You must be working 19 or more hours per week (or 38 hours per fortnight) and your income must be below a certain amount. You cannot get FIS and Jobseeker’s Allowance at the same time. Find out at your Social Welfare Local Office or Citizens Information Centre which payment would be of greater benefit to you.
Here we show you how to calculate your means from employment (not self-employment). You can find out how income from self-employment is assessed in our document Self-employment and unemployment.
Assessable earnings from work
The following items are always deducted from your gross earnings to get your assessable earnings from work:
There are 2 stages to calculating how work will affect your Jobseeker’s Allowance.
First you must find out if you have an entitlement to any amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance - see ‘Part 1’ below. If you have an entitlement to some Jobseeker’s Allowance then calculated how much Jobseeker’s Allowance you may get - see ‘Part 2’ below.
First, you must find out if you have an entitlement to Jobseeker’s Allowance.
To do this take your assessable weekly earnings and deduct €20 per day for each day you have worked up to a maximum of €60 (3 days). Next get 60% of the balance. This is assessed as your weekly means.
Assessable weekly earnings - €20 per day = total x 60% = weekly means from work.
Your joint means are halved if your spouse or partner is:
If your weekly means are less than the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation then your daily means is calculated to find the actual amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance you will get.
If your weekly means are greater than the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation then you will not get Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Note: The maximum weekly rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance for your circumstances is the maximum rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance and any increases for your adult dependant and child dependants. If your means are halved, an increase for a qualified adult is not included in the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation and you will only get a half-rate increase for each qualified child.
2010 maximum weekly rate of Jobseeker's Allowance for people aged 25 and over
| Personal rate (claimant) | €196 |
| Increase for a Qualified Adult | €130.10 |
| Increase for a Qualified Child | €29.80 (full-rate) €14.90 (half rate 2010) |
People under 25 years of age get a reduced age related rate of Jobseeker's Allowance. However, there are exceptions and some people under 25 may get the higher JA rate. More information on the JA rate for people under 25 can be found in our document on Jobseeker's Allowance.
If you have an entitlement to Jobseeker’s Allowance, calculate how work will affect your payment.
1. Calculate your average daily earnings
To calculate your average daily earnings get your total weekly assessable earnings from employment and divide by the number of days you worked that week.
Total weekly earnings ÷ number of days worked = average daily earnings.
2. Next calculate your daily means from work
To calculate your daily means from work, you must first disregard any income not taken into account. €20 is not taken into account for days worked. Next get 60% of the balance. This is assessed as your daily means from work.
Average daily earnings - €20 = total x 60% = daily means from work.
3. Finally, find your weekly means from work
To find your weekly means from work, multiply your daily means by the number of days worked. If you work on Sunday do not count Sunday in the number of days worked - see ‘Sunday work’ below. However, if you get paid for a public holiday and you don't work that day, it will be included in the number of days worked - see 'public holidays' below.
Daily means from work x number of days worked = weekly means from work.
Your joint means are halved if your spouse or partner is:
Sunday work
If you work on Sunday calculating your means from employment is done differently. Sunday is not counted as a day of work, so your daily means from Sunday are not taken into account for Jobseeker’s Allowance. However, you must include your earnings from Sunday to get your assessable weekly earnings.
Public holidays
If you work part-time, your employer must pay you for the public holidays which you don’t work, as long as, you have worked at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks immediately before the week of the public holiday. More information on payment for public holidays, can be found in our document on Public holidays.
If you get paid for a public holiday and don't work that day, it will be included in the number of days worked to find your weekly means from work. Depending on your means, you can continue to get Jobseeker’s Allowance for the other days you do not work.
Subtract your weekly means from the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation to find out how much Jobseeker’s Allowance you will get.
Note: The maximum weekly rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance for your circumstances is the maximum rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance and any increases for your adult dependant and child dependants. If your means are halved, you will not get an increase for a qualified adult but you can get a half-rate increase for each qualified child. If your means are halved, an increase for a qualified adult is not included in the maximum Jobseeker’s Allowance payment for your situation and you will only get a half-rate increase for each qualified child.
If you have other means in addition to means from work they will also be taken into account and will affect how much Jobseeker’s Allowance you will get.
You may find our Worksheet to help you calculate your means from work for Jobseeker's Allowance useful.
If you were getting Jobseeker's Allowance before 26 September 2007 and have continued to get Jobseeker's Allowance continuously, you can be assessed using the previous method of calculating means from employment to find out if you would get a greater amount of Jobseeker's Allowance.
In determining whether a person is involved in seasonal employment the nature of the business is investigated, as well as the nature of the person's employment.
Some of the typical areas where seasonal employments exist are:
Once the season is over, the means from seasonal employment are excluded from the assessment until the commencement of the next season.
Your spouse’s or partner’s income from employment is assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
To find your spouse’s or partner’s means from work you must:
Assessable weekly earnings - €20 per day (maximum €60 for 3 days work) = total x 60% = weekly means from work.
Your joint means are halved if your spouse or partner is also:
Note: If means are halved, an increase for a qualified adult is not payable but you can get a half-rate increase for each qualified child.
Your spouse’s or partner’s income from self-employment is assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The assessment must reflect the earnings your spouse or partner may reasonably be expected to get from your business over the next 12 months. Income for the last 12 months will be taken as a guide but allowing for any factors which it is known will vary. Your spouse or partner should be prepared to discuss these factors when you are assessed for Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Earnings are assessed as gross income less work related expenses over 12 months. The expected annual earnings from self-employment is divided by 52 to find your spouse’s or partner’s weekly means from self-employment.
Any ‘drawings’ taken from the business is not an allowable expense. If the ‘drawings’ from the business are greater than the level of income calculated, the ‘drawings’ are assessed as cash income.
There is no exhaustive list of all expenses allowed because expenses vary with the nature and extent of the self-employment. However the following are the main allowable expenses in most cases:
To prove the level of income from the business your spouse or partner must give his or her receipts and payments (documentation showing money coming in and out of the business) or audited accounts to the person dealing with your application in your Social Welfare Local Office.
If you were getting Jobseeker's Allowance before 26 September 2007 and you are still in payment on the 26 September, your income and your spouse's/partner's income will be assessed using both the old means test and the new means test and you will get the higher amount. (The old means test is the means test used before 26 September 2007. The new means test is used on JA applications recieved after 26 September 2007).
If you would get a greater amount of JA on the previous assessment then you will continue to be assessed using the previous method of calculating means from employment.
If you stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for more than 4 weeks you cannot apply the old method of calculating means from employment. If the first time you stop claiming JA is for less than 4 weeks, the second time you stop claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (even if it is for less than 4 weeks) you will be assessed using the new assessment only. This means, if you want to be assessed using the previous method you are only allowed one break in your claim of less than 4 weeks
Before 26 September 2007 your spouse's/partner's income from employment affected your JA payment as follows:
If your spouse/partner works and earns less than €100 gross per week, you are entitled to a full increase for him/her as a qualified adult. A reduced qualified adult allowance is paid if his/her earnings are between €100 and €310. If your spouse/partner earns more than €310, you will not be paid any increase for him/her. If you have a child dependant and you are getting a child dependant increase in your payment, this portion is halved if your spouse/partner earns more than €310.
In summary:
| Spouse or partner works | Take home pay | Your payment |
| 1,2 or 3 days | €50 | No change |
| 1,2 or 3 days | More than €50 |
Any earnings over this amount are halved and deducted from your payment |
| 4 or more days | €100 | No change |
| 4 or more days | More than €100 |
Any earnings over this amount are halved and deducted from your payment |
Your spouse's or partner's income can also affect your payment. Read more about how your spouse's or partner's income from employment is assessed as means and possibly affect your Jobseeker's Allowance.
Your average weekly net earnings are used to calculate your means. This is usually established by calculating your average earning over the previous 13 weeks (or another period if this is more representative of your normal working pattern). When assessing your income from employment the following allowances are always deducted from your gross earnings to get your net earnings.
How your income from employment is assessed depends on whether you have child dependants.
If you have one or more qualified child dependants and you are working part of the week while claiming JA, your means are assessed as 60% of your average net weekly earnings.
If you do not have qualified child dependants, €12.70 euro of your earnings for each day worked are not taken into account and disregarded from your average net weekly earnings. Only 60% of the balance is assessed against the weekly rate of JA.
A person is entitled to JA only for periods of unemployment. The minimum period a person must be unemployed in order to receive JA is 3 days in a period of 6 consecutive days.
If you were getting JA on the 20 November 1996 and have continued to get JA continuously, you can continue to be assessed using the method of calculating means from employment in place at that time to find out if you would get a greater amount of JA.
If your means have changed, for any reason since the 20 November 1996, you cannot apply this method of calculating means from employment.
Before 20 November 1996 your spouse's/partner's income from employment affected your JA payment as follows:
The following method of assessing means from insurable employment applies if you were getting JA on the 20th November 1996 and have continued to get JA continuously and if this method of assessment is of greater benefit than that under the current method of assessment of earnings from work. If your means have changed, for any reason since the 20th November 1996, the saver rate will not apply.
The following is how you means are assessed using the Saver Clause: