The number of earnings-related unemployment allowance applications picked up slightly after the downward trend in the summer. In July, the Open Unemployment Fund A-kassa received 24,208 earnings-related allowance applications, which was 9% more than in June. Of the applications received, 8.4% were first-time applications, 29.8% were follow-up applications for adjusted allowance, and 61.7% were follow-up applications. The average processing time for first-time applications was 11.2 days, compared with 8.5 days for adjusted allowance applications.
The number of members receiving earnings-related allowance started to decline in April, and the downward trend continued in July. In July, 17,621 members received earnings-related unemployment allowance, which was 1,530 fewer than in June. The number of recipients increased by 13.3% compared with the same period last year. In June, 7.7% of the members of the Open Unemployment Fund A-kassa received earnings-related unemployment allowance.
Of all the recipients, 24.4% were temporarily laid off in June. Thus, the downward trend in the share of laid off earnings-related allowance recipients that started in March is continuing. In June, a total of 4,293 members received unemployment allowance due to being temporarily laid off, of whom 16.4% were women and 83.6% were men.
In the past month, the number of recipients of adjusted unemployment allowance remained similar to previous months. In July, 3,128 members received adjusted unemployment allowance. The share of recipients decreased slightly from the June figures and was 17.8%.
Earnings-related unemployment allowance paid in July amounted to EUR 24.2 million, which is EUR 2.0 million less than in June. However, compared with the corresponding period of 2022, the amount of earnings-related unemployment allowance paid was as much as 14.7% higher. The cumulative amount of unemployment allowance paid from January to July was EUR 225.0 million, which is 4.3% more than in the corresponding period of 2022.
The average number of paid days was the same in July as in June, i.e. 18.8 days. This is 0.9 days shorter than in July 2022.
Typically, mobility allowance is highest between April and September, and this trend continued in July. The amount of mobility allowance increased further from the June figures, but only by 6%. In July, 234 members received job alternation compensation, which is 65 fewer than at the same time last year. In July, 35 members received restructuring protection allowance.
There were 4,738 phone calls and the waiting time was 1 minute and 59 seconds on average. Of the members who called our customer service, 83% were very satisfied with the service they received. A total of 802 chat requests were received in the eService. The exchanges lasted an average of 9 minutes and 56 seconds. The number of chat exchanges has increased substantially since the spring, and 78% of the feedback received on the exchanges was positive.
