Right to earnings-related daily allowance
If you become unemployed, are temporarily laid off, or are only partially employed because the employer has no more work to offer, you may be entitled to earnings-related allowance.
Remember to register as a jobseeker with your local Employment and Economic Development Office (TE Office(opens in new window, you move to another service)) no later than on the first day of your unemployment or layoff. You must also register as an unemployed jobseeker if you are only partially employed but you are ready to accept full-time employment. Keep your job search valid as instructed by the TE Office.
NOTE! If you are at least 55 years ols and if you have been dismissed on production and economic grounds and if you entend to apply for a change security allowance, you must register as an unemployed jobseeker within 60 days of the date of dismissal. Read more under Change security allowance.(opens in new window)
The allowance is applied for retroactively from the unemployment fund in periods of four calendar weeks or one month. However, you can send the first application, including attachments, to the fund two full calendar weeks (Mon–Sun) after becoming unemployed. Read the conditions for claiming earnings-related allowance in advance. Also, check the attachments needed for your application so that you have time to obtain any missing attachments. Earnings-related allowance must be applied for within three months of the first date on which you wish it to be paid.
The payment of earnings-related allowances is based on the Act on Unemployment Security (1290/2002). See also The guide to benefits at www.tyj.fi(opens in new window, you move to another service)
Conditions for claiming earnings-related allowance
As a general rule, receiving an earnings-related allowance requires the following:
- you are aged between 18 and 64 years (between 65 and 68, unemployment allowance may be paid in certain exceptional circumstances, usually only during layoffs or similar breaks in the operation of the educational institution)
- you are seeking full-time employment and have registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office. Earnings-related allowance may be paid and the waiting period may be taken only for the period in which the job search has been valid and for which the TE Office has issued an eligibility statement.
- you have met the membership condition (26 weeks or 12 months, read more below)
- you have met the employment condition during your membership with the fund
If the membership or employment condition is not met, check with Kela(opens in new window, you move to another service) if you are entitled to a basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy.
NOTICE! A new legislative amendment will take effect starting September 2, 2024. With this amendment, the length of the employment condition will change to 12 calendar months, and the employment condition will be monetised. The membership requirement will also be extended to 12 months.
Read more about this and other legislative changes in the “Legislative Changes 2024–2025” section on our website.
Membership condition
The right to earnings-related unemployment allowance requires that you have met the membership condition.
The membership condition required for the right to earnings-related daily allowance is as follows:
- 26 weeks, if the last week counted towards the employment condition for the daily allowance ends by 1 September 2024
- 12 months, if the work counted towards the employment condition includes employment performed after 2 September 2024
The membership time of another fund is also counted toward the 26 weeks or 12 months if you joined within a month of the termination of your previous fund membership. A key condition for maintaining membership and receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance is that you have paid your membership fees in accordance with the rules of the Unemployment Fund for Education and Science. You can read more about joining the fund and membership fees in the Membership -section.
Employment condition
The right to earnings-related unemployment allowance requires that you have fulfilled the employment condition while being a member of the unemployment fund. This means that you must have accumulated the required amount of work history during your membership period in order to qualify for the earnings-related unemployment allowance.
Employment condition until 1 September 2024
If the last week counted towards the employment condition ends by 1 September 2024, you are still covered by the old law.
In this case, the right to earnings-related unemployment allowance requires that, as a member of the unemployment fund, you have been in insured paid employment for at least 26 calendar weeks within the 28 months immediately preceding your unemployment, where:
- Working hours have been at least 18 hours per week (for example, psychologists, early childhood teachers, researchers, information specialists, trainers), or if it is teaching work in an educational institution, at least 8 hours per week.
- The salary meets the collective agreement, or if there is no collective agreement, it is at least €1,399 per month for full-time work in 2024 (€1,331 in 2023).
Employment condition starting from 2 September 2024
If the work counted toward the employment condition for the payment of earnings-related unemployment allowance can be assessed under the new euro-based model from September 2024 or later, you fall under the new law. Monetary valuation of the employment condition means that the employment condition is accumulated based on the wages paid, rather than the hours worked.
In this case, the right to earnings-related unemployment allowance requires that, as a member of the unemployment fund, you have been in insured paid employment for at least 12 calendar months within the 28 months immediately preceding your unemployment, where:
- You have received a salary of at least €930.00 per calendar month from the employment.
- The salary meets the collective agreement, or if there is no collective agreement, it is at least €1,399 per month for full-time work in 2024 (€1,331 in 2023).
From 2 September 2024 onward, any calendar month in which you have received at least €930.00 in salary from employment will count as a full month toward the work requirement.
The employment condition can also be accumulated in half months. If the salary paid in a calendar month is less than €930.00 but at least €465.00, you will accrue a half month toward the employment condition. Two half months will count as one full month toward the employment condition. Therefore, the right to earnings-related unemployment allowance can be met with, for example, 8 full months and 8 half months. The half months do not need to be consecutive.
Accumulating the employment condition as a combination of the old and new employment conditions
For the 12-month employment condition, you can include employment condition weeks that have accumulated before 2 September 2024. In this case, these employment condition weeks are converted into employment condition months as follows:
- 3-4 weeks that fulfill the employment condition count as one full employment condition month.
- 1-2 weeks that fulfill the employment condition count as a half employment condition month.
Exceptions to the accumulation of the employment condition
Below is a list of situations where the employment condition accumulates in a manner that deviates from the usual.
Until 1 September 2024, the accumulation of the employment condition generally requires that the weekly working hours be at least 18 hours. This working hour requirement has been applied to members of our unemployment fund, such as psychologists, researchers, information specialists, and early childhood teachers. For teachers, however, the accumulation of the employment condition has typically required that the weekly working hours be at least 8 hours per week. From 2 September 2024 onward, teachers will also accumulate the employment condition based on the salary paid for the work (see above under Employment Condition from 2 September 2024).
If you work in teaching at an educational institution, the calendar weeks that accumulate toward the employment condition are those in which the working hours have been at least half of the minimum weekly hours for a full-time hourly teacher in that field. Generally, this so-called full-time threshold is 16 hours, meaning that weeks with a paid working time of at least 8 hours can be counted toward the employment condition. In fields without full-time hourly teachers, the threshold used is also eight hours.
Hourly-paid teachers have their actual hours tracked. A monthly-salaried teacher is considered to work the number of hours on which their monthly salary is based.
Teaching work in educational institutions includes work done in basic schools, high schools, vocational institutions, technical colleges, community colleges, adult education centers, universities of applied sciences, and universities, where a collective agreement in the education sector is followed. In contrast, teaching or training work performed in the service of a consulting or training company is not considered work done in an educational institution, and therefore the 18-hour working hour limit applies.
Until 1 September 2024, in employment where the creative or performance-related work is decisive, each calendar week can be counted toward the employment condition if the taxable income from this work is at least €325.34 (in 2024). Creative and performance-related work includes roles such as those of musicians, actors, dancers, directors, and presenters.
From 2 September 2024 onward, the employment condition in creative and performance-related occupations will accumulate in the same manner as for other salaried employees (see above under Employment Condition from 2 September 2024). The guidance above applies to situations where the employment condition for creative and performance-related work is met on an earnings basis by 1 September 2024 at the latest.
Changes to pay-subsidised work and the accumulation of the employment condition from the TE Services will take effect from 2 September 2024.
Pay-Subsidised Work until 1 September 2024
If the pay-subsidised work started by 1 September 2024, it will accumulate the employment condition at a rate of 75% of its duration. The required length of the employment condition is therefore 6 months, and this will be monitored on a payment basis starting from 2 September 2024. Employment condition weeks accumulated before 2 September 2024 will be converted into months as follows: 3-4 weeks yield one full employment condition month, and 1-2 weeks yield a half employment condition month. Consequently, there must be 8 employment condition months for the 6-month employment condition to be met (8 months * 0.75 = 6 months).
For periods during which the pay-subsidised work cannot be counted toward the employment condition, the 28-month assessment period will be extended.
Pay-subsidised work that began before 1 January 2017 will accumulate the employment condition for its entire duration, except for those pay-subsidised works that began before 30 December 2013, where the highest increased pay subsidy was paid. In these cases, only half of the work weeks will count toward the employment condition.
Exceptions apply to situations where pay-subsidised work has been organized based on the employment obligation for older workers. In these cases, the pay-subsidised work will accumulate the employment condition for its entire duration.
Pay-Subsidised Work from 2 September 2024 onward
Pay-subsidised work starting on or after 2 September 2024 can only be counted toward the employment condition if the pay subsidy has been granted to a person who:
- Has a reduced work capacity, or
- Is over 60 years old and has been unemployed for at least 12 months during the 14 months immediately preceding the granting of the pay subsidy.
However, for the first 10 months of pay-subsidised work, it will not yet accumulate the employment condition. These first 10 months will, however, extend the assessment period for the employment condition. After this period, 75% of the accumulated employment condition months will be counted toward the employment condition.
The employment obligation applies to individuals aged 57 or older whose maximum entitlement to unemployment benefit expires by 1 September 2024.
Employment obligation and services for individuals over 60 years old will accumulate the employment condition for their entire duration. If the employment condition is fulfilled through employment obligation or service, such that the last required week for fulfilling the employment condition is completed by 1 September 2024, the length of the employment condition will be 26 calendar weeks. The length of the employment condition will be 6 months if it includes time spent in work or service starting from 2 September 2024.
In employment obligation, the employment condition months will accumulate on a payment basis starting from 2 September 2024. Weeks accumulated before 2 September 2024 will be converted into months as follows: 3-4 weeks yield one full employment condition month, and 1-2 weeks yield a half employment condition month.
In employment obligation, the employment condition months will accumulate as follows:
- Calendar weeks accumulated before 2 September 2024 will be converted into months, with 3-4 weeks yielding one full employment condition month and 1-2 weeks yielding a half employment condition month.
- Calendar weeks accumulated after 2 September 2024 will be converted into months such that 4 weeks yield one full employment condition month and 2 weeks yield a half employment condition month.
If a person becomes employed in other work after completing employment obligation or service, the length of the employment condition will be 12 months.
Loss of accumulated employment condition
You will lose the accumulated employment condition in the following situations:
- You are outside the labour market for more than 6 months without an acceptable reason. (Acceptable reasons do not include, for example, independent job-seeking without being registered as a jobseeker with the TE Office, staying abroad without a job or a place of study, or unpaid leave of absence if were not working for another employer or studying during your leave.)
- You are self-employed full time for more than 18 months.
- You change your unemployment fund and there is a gap of more than one month between your membership in the previous fund and the new fund, during which you are not a member of either fund.
In these situations, the unemployment fund will not be able to pay the daily allowance until you have fulfilled the employment condition again.
Additional considerations regarding the employment condition
The employment condition can be fulfilled through multiple periods of employment (including short-term substitutes), and it can be accumulated from work in fields other than your own. Paid annual leave can also count toward the employment condition if the working hours (up until 1 September 2024) or the salary paid for that leave (from 2 September 2024) meet the requirements mentioned above.
As with any other business activity, work done on an assignment basis does not accumulate the employee’s employment condition. If there is more time that contributes to the employment condition than the minimum required, generally, the most recent periods will be considered. Your unemployment benefit will be determined based on the earnings from the work that has accumulated the employment condition (see more information in the section on Unemployment Benefit Amount).
The normal 28-month review period can be extended for up to seven years due to an acceptable reason under unemployment security law. In such cases, the required lengths of membership and employment conditions may change.
Extension of the review period and length of the employment condition
The normal 28-month (i.e. 2-year, 4-month) review period may be extended by a maximum of seven years for an acceptable reason in accordance with the Act on Unemployment Security. Acceptable reasons for an extension include for example full-time studies, sick leave, birth of a child and care of a child up to 3 years of age, military service and civil service. An acceptable reason extends the review period according to its duration (for example, a 5-month parental allowance period extends the 28-month review period to 33 months, so that the period of parental leave is skipped).
- If your last week of employment that counted towards the employment condition was before 30 December 2013, the membership and employment condition is 34 calendar weeks.
- If your last week of employment that counted towards the employment condition was before 31 December 2009, and you have never received an earnings-related or basic allowance, the membership and employment condition is 43 calendar weeks.
As a general rule, the employment condition cannot be met for example by work during which you were on part-time child-care leave or received a part-time sickness allowance or partial disability pension, or during which you were paid a reduced sick pay. However, such employment may be taken into consideration for the extension of the review period, but only within the last 7 years.
Re-fulfillment of employment condition
The fulfillment of the employment condition is examined when you first apply for unemployment benefits. After this, the accumulation of the employment condition is monitored based on your applications and the attachments you submit. The employment condition is fulfilled again when you have accumulated sufficient new employment that meets the conditions after the previous fulfillment (from 2 September 2024, this requires 12 months).
The employment condition can be fulfilled again through part-time work or occasional jobs while you receive adjusted unemployment benefits. It can also be fulfilled again if you return to being an unemployment benefit applicant after a full-time work. If the employment condition is fulfilled again, the maximum duration of unemployment benefits starts anew. Additionally, a waiting period is imposed, and the benefit level is reassessed. If the employment condition is not met again, the payment of unemployment benefits may continue based on your previous entitlement.
The employment condition can accumulate normally during employment-promoting services, such as part-time work. If the employment condition is fulfilled again during self-directed studies or labour market training, the maximum duration of unemployment benefits only resets after the training period ends. Since it is not possible to renew unemployment benefit entitlement during the training period, it is advisable to check beforehand how far the maximum payment period extends. After the maximum payment period ends, you can apply for labor market support from Kela.
Restrictions to earnings-related allowance
No earnings-related allowance will be paid if:
- you are under 17 years old or if you are 65 years old or over
- you have not yet been a member of an unemployment fund for 26 weeks
- you have not met the employment condition of 26 weeks during your unemployment fund membership
- you have not registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office
- you are a full-time student *
- you are a full-time entrepreneur *
- you are fully self-employed (as a caregiver, for example) *
- you receive pay or other compensation paid by the employer during your notice period
- you are in military or civilian service
- you are serving a prison sentence
- you are hospitalised or in similar institutional care
*) In these situations, the TE Office assesses the situation based on the provisions of the Act on Unemployment Security and provides the unemployment fund with a statement, on the basis of which the unemployment fund will issue a negative decision on the earnings-related allowance.
You are not entitled to an allowance during a period in which you are receiving:
- maternity, paternity, parental or special care allowance, or you are on child-care leave
- full or partial sickness allowance
- unemployment pension or farm closure pension
- labour market subsidy or basic allowance
- old age pension, early old age pension, individual early retirement pension or career pension
- annual holiday pay based on full-time employment, or you are on unpaid leave
- pay or other compensation during your notice period, or some other financial benefit from your employer related to the termination of your employment
- holiday compensation for untaken holidays after more than two weeks of full-time employment has ended. You are not entitled to earnings-related daily allowance during the periodicity of holiday compensation.
Exception: If you are employed, have received the maximum period (300 days) of sickness allowance from Kela, are still incapable of working, and your employer cannot offer you work that corresponds to your ability to work, you may be entitled to unemployment benefits from the time your disability pension application is pending until the negative pension decision becomes final.
The right to unemployment benefits may also arise during any potential appeal process. In this case, in addition to meeting the other eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits, the following conditions must also be fulfilled:
- you do not receive full sick pay or parial sick pay based on full-time work from your employer
- you have registered as a jobseeker with the TE Office
In this case, include the following with your application:
- The F001-statement from the TE Office (ask the TE Office to send the statement to the Unemployment Fund for Education and Science)
- A medical certificate regarding your period of incapacity for work, if this information is not included in the TE Office’s statement. You may cover any information related to your health condition. The fund only needs the information about the period of incapacity for work.
- Information about the date when the maximum duration of Kela’s sickness allowance has been reached
- Information on the status of your disability pension application. Submit the pension decision (positive/negative) once you receive it, and inform, if you plan to appeal the decision.
- A certificate from your employer stating that they do not have work available that corresponds to your ability to work
- Providing salary information may expedite the processing of your application. It is recommended to submit salary information for the last 26 weeks of full salary (100%) prior to your unemployment.
See also Effect of social benefits(you move to another service).
Periodisation of holiday compensation
Holiday compensation is periodised if it is paid for a full-time employment relationship of more than two weeks that ends on or after 1.1.2024.
The accrual of holiday compensation postpones the start of entitlement to earnings-related daily allowance. If the employer pays holiday compensation for untaken annual holidays, holiday compensation is periodised, in which case the payment of earnings-related unemployment allowance is prevented from being paid during the periodisation time.
As a rule, the periodisation of holiday compensation begins at the end of the employment relationship. Periodisation is based on imputed daily wages. The periodisation time is calculated by dividing the amount of holiday compensation by the daily wage to obtain the number of periodisation days. Only weekdays (Mon-Fri) are taken into account in the calculation.
The periodicity of holiday compensation and the waiting period cannot run at the same time, so a waiting period may still be set after the periodisation, during which no daily allowance is paid. However, the suspension period set by the TE Office and the periodisation of holiday compensation may run simultaneously.
Holiday compensation paid for part-time work or full-time work lasting no more than two weeks is not periodised but adjusted in the daily allowance based on the payment date.
Person A’s daily wage is EUR 170. His employment of more than two weeks will end on 31.1.2024. He will be paid holiday compensation of EUR 1700 for the work that has ended. The number of days to be phased shall be:
1700e / 170e = 10 days.
Holiday compensation will be phased over a period of 10 working days starting from 1.2.2024, i.e. from 1.2.2024 to 14.2.2024, and there is no right to earnings-related daily allowance for that period.
After this, a waiting period of 7 days may still be set, in which case the payment of earnings-related unemployment allowance can begin on 26.2.2024.
Payment period of earnings-related allowance
The payment period of earnings-related allowance depends on your age and the duration of your work history at the onset of unemployment.
Allowance is paid
- for 300 days of unemployment, if you have an employment history of exactly or under three years
- for 400 days of unemployment, if you have an employment history of over three years
- for 500 days of unemployment, if you have met the employment condition after turning 58 years and if you have had at least five years of employment history in the last 20 years
For the purpose of calculating a three-year employment history, all paid employment completed over the age of 17 may be taken into account.
For the purpose of calculating a five-year employment history, the age requirement concerning the maximum period and the five-year employment history must be met before the employment condition is fulfilled. All the work covered by an employee’s or self-employed person’s pension insurance that you have carried out after turning 18 years of age counts towards your employment history.
At the end of the maximum allowance period, you can apply for labour market subsidy from Kela.
The allowance is paid for up to five days a week (Mon–Fri, including midweek holidays). If you are fully unemployed, each day of allowance payment counts for one day of the maximum payment period. If you receive an adjusted allowance, the days counted towards the maximum are calculated in the same proportion as the paid allowance is in comparison to the full allowance.
Ageing jobseekers may be entitled to additional days of earnings-related unemployment allowance once the maximum duration has been reached. Read more about additional days from the link below.
