The duty to contribute to unemployment insurance, exemptions from this duty and the voluntary insurance are regulated in the Third Book of the German Social Code. The provision states that in principle all persons gainfully employed above the insignificance limit are liable to contribute to statutory unemployment insurance. Trainees are also compulsorily insured against unemployment. According to the law, unemployment insurance is compulsory as soon as certain legal prerequisites exist.
Certain groups of people are explicitly exempt from contributing to unemployment insurance, because they are not intended to be covered by this insurance (e.g. civil servants, soldiers or persons aged 65 and over).