Unemployment insurance is the cheapest social insurance: just 1.3% of your gross salary, so around €52 on a €4,000 gross salary. In return, you're protected in case you lose your job and receive unemployment benefit I.
What do you get in an emergency? Unemployment benefit I amounts to 60% of your standardized net pay (67% with children). With a previous gross salary of €4,000 and a net salary of around €2,600, you'd receive roughly €1,560-1,740 per month. The duration depends on your employment history and age: if you were employed for 24 months, you get 12 months of benefit. From age 50 with 30 months of employment, it can be up to 24 months.
Important to know: besides money, unemployment insurance also funds further training and retraining that helps you get back into work. You can even apply for these benefits before becoming unemployed – for example, if your job is threatened by automation. So the €52 monthly investment is real protection, worth several tens of thousands of euros in an emergency.