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Earnings-related daily allowance

Detailed instructions

Apply for earnings-related allowance if you become unemployed or are laid off

Earnings-related unemployment daily allowance is a benefit that unemploytment 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 and Economic Development Office (TE Office), which issues a statement on the matter which is binding to the fund.
  • You must be a member of an unemployment fund for at least 26 weeks (membership condition)
  • During your membership, you must be in paid employment for at least 26 weeks (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 with the TE Office
  • 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 TE Office 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 TE Office.

Proceed as follows:

  • Register with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker
  • You can register as a jobseeker by filling in the online registration form 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 TE Office will contact you, agree on further measures and a possible personal meeting
  • If you are a client in the local government pilot on employment, the registration must be made throughthe TE Office's My Services

Membership condition

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.

 

Employment condition

The employment condition is met when

  • you have been in paid employment for at least 26 calendar weeks during the 28 months immediately preceding unemployment.
  • As a family member of an entrepreneur, you can only be granted an earnings-related daily allowance if you have worked in the family business for 52 weeks meeting the employment condition, and you have been a member of an employee's fund during that period. However, you cannot combine work in a family business with another employer in order to fulfil the employment condition.

 

The employment does not have to be continuous, but you can accumulate weeks that accrue the employment condition even in shorter periods during the 28-month reference period. The employment condition is accrued only during the membership of the unemployment fund.

 

On a weekly basis, the employment condition is met when 

  • there are at least 18 paid working hours during a calender week (including, for example, paid vacation or sick leave)
  • the work has been carried out in employment and it is insured, i.e. tax has been withheld from it and unemployment and social insurance contributions have been paid
  • the salary is in accordance with the collective agreement. If there is no collective agreement in the industry, the salary for full-time employment must be at least 1,331 euros per month in 2023.
  • The salary for employment in the creative and performance sector has been at least 309,53 euros (in 2023).

If you have found employment in pay subsidy work, 75 per cent of the calendar weeks that meet the employment condition can be included in the employment condition. To qualify for 26 weeks' employment, you must work for 35 weeks. If you have found employment in pay subsidy work based on an employment obligation, all working weeks are included in the employment condition.

 

Period of examination of the employment condition

The 28-month review period of the employment condition may be extended for an acceptable reason for a maximum of seven years. Acceptable reasons for the extension include the time for which you have received

  • sickness allowance from Kela
  • parental allowance from Kela
  • child home care allowance from Kela
  • financial aid for students from Kela, or
  • you have been in military or non-military service.

 

Time limits to keep in mind

Important time limits when applying for earnings-related unemployment allowance. Infographics.


Detailed instructions