Earnings-related unemployment daily allowance is a benefit that unemployment fund pays for the period of unemployment or lay-off

We also pay an earnings-related daily allowance for the duration of a service promoting employment.

You can apply for earnings-related unemployment daily allowance if you are a member of the unemployment fund.

You can receive an earnings-related daily allowance when you have fulfilled the labour market policy conditions, the membership conditions of an unemployment fund, and the employment conditions.

Briefly:

• The fulfilment of the labour market policy requirements is examined by the employment authority in municipality or employment area (former Employment and Economic Development Office, TE Office), which issues a statement on the matter which is binding to the fund.

• You must meet the membership condition.

• During your membership, you must meet the employment condition.

Other general conditions for receiving the daily allowance include:

• Age 18–64 years (68 years for laid-off persons)
• living in Finland
• registered as an unemployed jobseeker at Job Market Finland
• seeking full-time employment
• The applicant for the daily allowance is fit to work and is available for the job market.

We will examine the fulfilment of the membership and employment conditions in connection with the processing of your application for an earnings-related daily allowance.

Labour market policy requirements

The employment authority examines your labour market policy requirements and issues a statement on this, which is binding to the unemployment fund. The fund cannot influence decisions made by the employment authority.

Proceed as follows:

• Register at Job Market Finland as an unemployed jobseeker
• You can register as a jobseeker in the E-services at Job Market Finland no later than on the first day of unemployment or lay-off. You can register even before the start of unemployment or lay-off.
• After registration, the employment official will contact you, agree on further measures and a possible personal meeting

Membership condition

Membership condition until 1.9.2024: The membership condition is met when you have been a member of the fund for at least 26 weeks. The membership period of another fund is also added to the 26 weeks if you have become a member within one month of the end of the previous fund membership.

Membership condition from 2.9.2024: The membership condition is met when you have been a member of the fund for at least 12 months. The membership period of another fund is also added to the 12 months if you have become a member within one month of the end of the previous fund membership.

Until September 1, 2024, employment condition is 26 calendar weeks

Starting September 2, 2024, employment condition is 12 calendar months

Time limits to keep in mind