Do unemployment benefit months count toward the pension refund?

Yes. While you receive Arbeitslosengeld I, the employment agency pays mandatory pension contributions for you, based on 80% of your previous gross salary. Two consequences follow. The months count toward the 60-month threshold: citizens of treaty countries such as the US, India or Turkey lose the refund option permanently at 60 contribution months, so check your insurance record before a long benefit period pushes you over. And the 24-month waiting period for the refund starts only after your last mandatory contribution, which means after ALG I ends, not after your job ends. Bürgergeld is different: it pays no pension contributions. Neither point makes claiming ALG I a mistake; it just belongs in the timing plan.