Unemployed in summer 2025? Check the instructions!
During the summer, we receive a large number of applications. If unemployment affects you during the summer, read the instructions below and make sure your application process runs smoothly!
Before unemployment
Get ready in advance
Activate your job search
Register as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment authority no later than on your first day of unemployment (via the Job Market Finland E-Services(you move to another service)). For example, if your last day of full-time work is 31 May 2025, make sure your job search is active no later than 1 June 2025.
You can activate your job search in advance, but not retroactively!
Remember to register as an unemployed jobseeker also in cases of lay-off and part-time work!
Update your contact information
Check in Openetti that your contact details (email address, phone number, postal address, and bank account number) are up to date.
You can also subscribe to email reminders and SMS notifications about benefit payments.
Check your attachments
Before your unemployment begins, find out which attachments are typically required for the application and whether you can collect them in advance.
It may be more difficult to obtain some documents once summer holidays have started.
Haven’t fulfilled the 12-month employment condition?
The length of the employment condition changed to 12 calendar months in the fall of 2024. Please note that if you applied for unemployment benefits from the fund last summer and had met the 26-week employment condition at that time, you do not need to meet the 12-month employment condition now in order to receive benefits!
In this case, benefits can be paid based on the unemployment benefit period that started in the summer of 2024, as long as the other general conditions are met.
First application after full-time work ends
Send your first application only after you have been unemployed for at least two full calendar weeks (Monday to Sunday). Earnings-related allowance must still be applied for within three months from the date you want it to be paid from!
If your employment ends on 31 May 2025, you can send your first application no earlier than Sunday, 15 June 2025 from the period 1.6.2025 – 15.6.2025.
If you prefer, you can submit your first application for the entire calendar month, from 1 to 30 June 2025. In that case, the earliest date to submit your application is 30 June 2025.
Remember to check in Openetti that the start date of the application period is your first day of unemployment! If the application form suggests the wrong start date, you can correct it by using the “Edit Application Period” button.
You can find more instructions for filling in the earnings-related allowance application on our website under Applying for Earnings-Related Allowance and Instructions for Openetti.
Click the buttons below to go directly to the page.
First application after part-time work ends
If you have been applying for adjusted daily allowance during part-time employment, continue applying for the allowance according to your regular application schedule after your employment ends.
Anna has been applying for adjusted daily allowance during her part-time employment. Her employment ends on 31 May 2025, and she will be fully unemployed starting from 1 June 2025.
She will continue applying for the earnings-related allowance according to her regular application rhythm, even after her employment ends. For example, if her regular application period runs from the 10th day of the month to the 9th day of the following month, Anna will submit her application as usual for the period 10 May 2025 – 9 June 2025, even though her employment ends during this application period.
Attachments
Since applicants’ situations vary, it is difficult to anticipate all the required attachments. Sometimes, the necessary attachment becomes clear only during the application processing stage. The most commonly required attachments are:
- Employment contract/official appointment or other documentation of employment conditions (e.g. duration, reason for termination, weekly working hours, salary terms). Make sure the document includes the required information.
- Payslip for vacation compensation, which may speed up the processing of your application if you receive vacation compensation upon the end of your employment.
- Termination notice if you have been terminated, or layoff notice if you have been laid off.
- Spouse’s home care support certificate, if your spouse is receiving support. The form can be found under the “Forms” section on our website. You can also provide the requested information through an Openetti message.
- Most recent confirmed personal tax decision, if you are a part-time entrepreneur.
- Weekly hour report for work done before 2 September 2024, if you were paid an hourly wage based on the hours worked. Starting from 2 September 2024, weekly hour reports are no longer required, as from that date onwards the employment condition will be accrued based on the wages paid for the work. Weekly hour report forms can be found under the Forms section.
If we need additional information during the processing of your application, you will receive a message in Openetti and a text message notifying you that a new message has arrived. Make sure your phone number is up to date.
Holiday compensation and waiting period
What is holiday compensation?
- Holiday compensation is paid if you have not taken your accumulated vacation days during your employment.
- Holiday compensation for full-time work is periodised, meaning no unemployment allowance is paid during the periodisation time. For part-time work, holiday compensation is not periodised, but instead, it is adjusted.
- Holiday compensation is different from holiday pay! Holiday pay for full-time work does not affect your unemployment allowance, and you do not need to inform us of its payment date. Holiday pay for part-time work is adjusted just like holiday compensation.
What is the waiting period?
- The waiting period is applied when you become unemployed for the first time or when you meet the employment condition again.
- The waiting period is equivalent to 7 weekdays of unemployment, during which no unemployment allowance is paid.
Holiday compensation paid for full-time work is periodised, and no unemployment allowance is paid during the periodisation. The periodisation thus delays the start of your entitlement to unemployment benefits. The periodisation period usually begins from the end of the employment.
The holiday compensation periodisation and the waiting period cannot overlap. Therefore, after the periodisation of holiday compensation, a waiting period may still be applied, during which no unemployment allowance is paid. The waiting period is applied if you are unemployed for the first time or if you meet the employment condition again. The waiting period corresponds to seven weekdays of unemployment.
Eino’s full-time employment ends on 31 May 2025, and he applies for unemployment benefits starting 1 June 2025. He will receive holiday compensation of €1258.00. Eino’s calculated daily wage is €130.58, so the holiday compensation will be periodised:
€1258 / €130.58 = 9 days (rounded down).
Thus, the holiday compensation will be periodised from 1 June 2025 to 12 June 2025.
Since Eino meets the employment condition, a waiting period must be applied after the holiday compensation periodisation. Eino will be fully unemployed during the summer, so the 7 weekdays of unemployment equivalent to the waiting period will be taken from 13 June 2025 to 23 June 2025.
Eino can start receiving unemployment benefits from 24 June 2025.
If you have received or will receive holiday compensation, please report the payment date of the holiday compensation on your application. If you are not receiving holiday compensation, please also indicate this in Openetti during the completion of your application.
For more information about the periodisation of holiday compensation, you can read through the button below.
Follow-up application
The appropriate application rhythm for each applicant will be determined during the processing of the first application. Once your first application has been processed, you will receive an informational message in Openetti indicating the period for which you should submit future applications.
Back to work in the fall?
If you start a new full-time job in the fall, apply for unemployment benefits until the start of your new job. Check the date when your salary payments from the new job begin, and apply for unemployment benefits up to the day before that. Remember to inform the employment authorities about the start of your new employment.
If you start part-time work in the fall, you can continue applying for unemployment benefits according to the same rhythm as during the summer. Attach your employment contract to the application. Also, notify the employment authorities about your part-time employment
Example 1: Your previous unemployment benefits application covered the period from 16 June 2025 to 15 July 2025.
- You start a full-time job lasting more than two weeks on 7 August 2025, and your salary payments also begin on 7 August 2025.
- Submit your final application for the period from 16 July 2025 to 6 August 2025. The application form will ask for the reason for the shorter application period, to which you should respond: “Full-time job lasting more than two weeks.”
Example 2: Your previous unemployment benefits application covered the period from 16 June 2025 to 13 July 2025.
- Your full-time job lasting more than two weeks starts on 7 August 2025, but your salary payments start already on 1 August 2025.
- Submit your final application for the period from 14 July 2025 to 31 July 2025. The application form will ask for the reason for the shorter application period, to which you should respond: “Full-time job lasting more than two weeks.”
Reminder: Be sure to check when your employment/official relationship and salary payments actually start, even if the actual work begins on 7 August 2025!
Your previous unemployment benefits application covered the period from 16 June 2025 to 15 July 2025.
- You start part-time work or a full-time job lasting up to two weeks on 7 August 2025.
- Continue applying for unemployment benefits according to your usual application rhythm, even after the start of your employment. Submit your next application for the period from 16 July 2025 to 15 August 2025. Attach a copy of your employment contract to the application and make sure to report your working hours.
Processing time
During the summer, the number of applications increases significantly, which may slow down processing. We are prepared for the congestion by hiring additional staff and making other adjustments to working hours.
Applications are processed in the order they are received, and we are unable to give an exact estimate of the processing time by phone or message. You can check the general processing situation on the front page of our website, where we update the estimated processing times. We also share updates on processing through our social media channels:
Need practical examples?
Are you wondering, for example:
- How the 12-month employment condition affects your right to benefits?
- How the adjusted daily allowance is calculated?
- When the grading of the daily allowance starts affecting the amount?
Check out practical examples using the button below.
