When you do gig work or short-term jobs, there can be a long gap between doing the work and receiving your pay. This can also affect your earnings-related allowance in an unexpected way: as a rule, your wages only affect your unemployment benefit when they are paid.
This is known as payment-based adjustment.
For example, if you do a short gig in August but your employer does not pay your wages until September, the wages will generally be taken into account when calculating your earnings-related allowance for September. What matters is not when you did the work, but when your wages were actually paid.
This can be challenging in everyday life, especially if you work irregular hours or have irregular jobs. Your wages and the work you do may not fall in the same month, which means that the amount of your earnings-related allowance may also vary from month to month. On the other hand, payment-based adjustment makes it somewhat easier to predict the amount of your adjusted allowance. The allowance decreases in months when your earnings are higher and increases in months when your earnings are lower.
Why is the allowance adjusted based on the payment date rather than when the wages were earned?
The transition to payment-based adjustment took place back in 2019, so this is not a new change. Adjusted earnings-related allowance has been calculated based on payment dates for several years. However, the topic still raises questions and can cause confusion.
Payment-based adjustment was introduced to speed up the payment of earnings-related allowance and reduce delays in processing applications. Under the previous system, where adjustment was based on when wages were earned, allowance payments could be delayed because wage information for completed work was needed before an application could be processed. With payment-based adjustment, wages only affect the earnings-related allowance during the application period in which they are paid.
Payment-based adjustment makes it easier to predict your income and the amount of your allowance. It also reduces situations where applications need to be corrected later or allowances have to be recovered. At the same time, it makes it easier to accept short-term and part-time work, as doing the work itself does not cause the same delays in allowance payments.
The aim is therefore to make the payment of earnings-related allowance smoother, reduce administrative work and make the effects of accepting work more predictable for applicants.
You can do gig work while receiving earnings-related allowance
Being unemployed does not always mean having no work at all. Adjusted earnings-related allowance can be paid, for example, when you work part-time or accept full-time work lasting no more than two weeks.
The amount of adjusted earnings-related allowance depends on both the amount of your full earnings-related allowance and the income you receive from work subject to adjustment. Allowance can also be paid for days worked during the application period, provided that the other eligibility requirements are met.
This is particularly important in the cultural and performing arts sectors, where work may consist of individual productions, rehearsals, performances and short-term employment contracts.
What if your wages are paid exceptionally late?
Although the general rule is that wages are taken into account based on when they are paid, there are exceptions. If wages earned over several months are paid in a single month, they are spread over the payment month and the following months for the purposes of adjustment. The wages are allocated over the same number of months as the period during which they were earned.
For this reason, it is important to provide the unemployment fund with accurate and detailed information about your wages and work so that your situation can be assessed.
A-kassa receives wage information from the Incomes Register, but this information alone is not always sufficient to process an application. In certain situations, the fund may ask you to provide a payslip, for example. A-kassa also recommends submitting payslips when the information in the Incomes Register is not sufficiently detailed.
More detailed information may be needed in the performing arts sector
A-kassa has separate instructions for sectors where working arrangements differ from regular employment with a monthly salary.
For example, actors and musicians may be asked to provide a performance and rehearsal schedule for theatre work. For individual gigs, information about working days, rehearsals and performances may be required, broken down by employer and wage payment, if these details are not clearly shown on the payslip or employment contract.
Remember to keep your job search active
If you apply for adjusted earnings-related allowance, you must keep your job search active on Job Market Finland, including during periods when you are working.
A short period of employment or an individual gig does not therefore automatically mean that you lose your right to earnings-related allowance. A-kassa can pay earnings-related allowance, for example, when you work part-time or have full-time employment lasting no more than two weeks, provided that the other eligibility requirements are met.