With the Daily allowance calculator, you can estimate the amount of your earnings-related allowance.
Register as a job seeker at the TE office.
How do different forms of lay-off affect the daily allowance?
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.
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:
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.
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
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.
The employment condition is met when
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
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.
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
Other benefits or restrictions may affect your entitlement to an earnings-related daily allowance so that they either prevent you from receiving the daily allowance or reduce the amount. In some cases they have no effect on the entitlement to a daily allowance or the amount.
The right to an earnings-related daily allowance is affected by, for example, social benefits that prevent the payment of a daily allowance, labour market restrictions and restrictions related to the employment. These may prevent the payment of a daily allowance in full.
Some social benefits may reduce the earnings-related daily allowance. These benefits are deducted from the daily allowance monthly, in which case the month is calculated to include 21.5 days. Deductive social benefits do not affect the overrun of the maximum period of the daily allowance, but each day with reduced payment reduces the maximum period by one day.
Below we have compiled the most common periods or benefits that prevent you from receiving a daily allowance. This list is not exhaustive.
Below is a breakdown of some of the most common benefits that reduce the earnings-related daily allowance. This list is not exhaustive.
The amount of an earnings-related daily allowance is not affected, for example, by the following social benefits. This list is not exhaustive.
You can calculate the estimate of the earning-related daily allowance you receive with the calculator.
Calculate an estimate of the amount of your daily allowance using the daily allowance calculator. The exact amount of the daily allowance is determined in the decision issued by the unemployment fund.
The earnings-related daily allowance is calculated from your wage income for at least 26 calendar weeks prior to unemployment. The weeks used to determine the daily allowance must meet employment condition.
The daily wage used to determine the daily allowance is obtained by dividing the salary for 26 weeks of employment by the number of working days included in this period (5 days a week, i.e. 130 days). Days for which no salary has been paid due to an acceptable absence, such as unpaid sick leave, are not counted as working days.
If you have done seasonal work, your earnings-related daily allowance can be determined from the earnings of the 12 months prior to unemployment. This requires that the amount of work performed and, consequently, the earnings, have been significantly higher than usual.
From your monthly salary used to determine the daily allowance, the statutory percentage reduction corresponding to the earnings-related pension and unemployment insurance contribution and the sickness insurance daily allowance contribution, which is 4.40% in 2023, will be deducted first.
When calculating the amount of earnings-related unemployment allowance, not all components of the salary are considered. Below are some examples of these salary components.
Included (the list is not exhaustive)
Not included (the list is not exhaustive)
The daily allowance consists of a basic part, an earnings-related part and a possible child increase. In 2023
A child supplement will be paid for a dependent child under the age of 18, which in 2023 will be
You can receive a child increase for your own children or for the children of a spouse living in the same household (up to three children).
If you participate in a service that promotes employment, the earnings-related daily allowance may be increased for a maximum of 200 days. If there are still days of daily allowance left to be paid after the employment-promoting service, they will be paid to you without an increased earnings component. A prerequisite for increased earnings is that you have agreed on the service in the employment plan with the TE Office or the municipality participating in the pilot on employment.
The amount of the increased earnings component is 55 per cent of the difference between the daily wage and the basic rate. If your monthly salary exceeds 3,534.95 per month, the increased earnings component is 25 per cent for the part exceeding this limit. Read more about studies and services promoting employment here.
You are eligible for an adjusted earnings-related allowance if you receive income and:
The adjusted daily allowance will be paid as the same amount for each eligible working day of the application period. The daily allowance will be paid for both unemployed days and the days worked.
The amount of adjusted daily allowance is affected by the amount of your earnings-related allowance and the income from part-time work and other work subject to the adjustment. Salary income subject to withholding tax shall not affect the amount of your daily allowance, if it is less than the protected part of earning, i.e. 300 euros per month or 279 euros per four weeks.
The income you receive during unemployment will affect your earnings-related allowance when the income is actually paid to you. This is called a payment-based adjustment of the daily allowance.
Remember to keep your job search active at the TE Office at all times while you apply for an adjusted earnings-related allowance. This means that the job search must also be active while you work.
You can calculate an indicative estimate of the amount of the adjusted daily allowance using the daily allowance calculator.
The amount of adjusted daily allowance is affected by the amount of your earnings-related allowance and the income from part-time work and other occasional work. If the earned income is less than the protected part of earnings, the received income does not affect the amount of paid daily allowance.
The protected part of earnings before withholding, i.e. gross income, is 300 euros for the application period of one month is and 279 euros for the application period of four weeks
If your earned income for the application period is more than the protected part, the amount exceeding the protected part will reduce the amount of earnings-related allowance. In such case, half of the income received during the application period exceeding the protected part is deducted from the full daily allowance.
Example: Your full earnings-related allowance is 60 euros per day. You start working part-time at a job that pays 600 euros per month. Since the salary is paid monthly, the application period is one calendar month. Half of the salary exceeding the protected part of the earnings affects the amount of earnings-related allowance (600–300) x 0.5 = 150. This 150 euros is divided by 21.5, which is the calculated number of working days in a month. Based on this calculation, the daily allowance is reduced by 6.98 euros a day. Therefore, the adjusted daily allowance is 60–6.98 = 53.02 euros a day, and it is paid for each working day of the adjustment period..
You cannot receive an adjusted daily allowance that is more than the amount of your full earnings-related allowance.
The total amount of earned income from your work and the adjusted daily allowance together can be no more than the amount of income that is the basis for the daily allowance, when the income to be adjusted exceed the protected part of the earnings during the application period.
If the total amount of the earned income and the adjusted daily allowance would exceed the income that is the basis for the daily allowance, the daily allowance is paid as an amount where the total income is equal to the salary that is the basis of the daily income.
You can calculate an indicative estimate of the amount of the adjusted daily allowance using the daily allowance calculator.
You can receive an adjusted daily allowance if your working hours do not exceed 80% of the working time in full-time employment:
The working time is taken into account for the period, when the income is paid to you.
Example: You start working at a part-time job in July. The salary is paid to you on 15 Aug 2023. The maximum working time for a full-time employee in the sector is 40 hours per week. 80 per cent of the maximum working time is 137.60 hours in a calender month. You have worked 140 hours in July, so the working time exceeds 80% of the maximum working time on the sector. You application for the period of 1–31 Aug 2023 is rejected due to the hours worked in July and paid in August. If you have not received any income from the salary in July, you will be paid the a full daily allowance for the July application.
If your weekly working time is reduced due to a temporary lay-off, you will receive a full daily allowance for the unemployed days. If your weekly working times is reduced due to a temporary lay-off and you receive income from part-time work, full-time work of up to two weeks, or business activities, you will be paid an adjusted daily allowance.
The amount of the full daily allowance and the adjusted daily allowance affects how the maximum period of time is accrued, when the adjusted daily allowance is paid.
The adjusted daily allowance accrues more slowly the maximum time of earning-related daily allowance of 300–500 days than the days of full daily allowance.
When you receive an adjusted daily allowance, the calculator accumulates days according to the amount paid. When the adjusted daily allowance has been paid corresponding to the full amount of the full daily allowance, one day is accumulated on the calculator.
Example: If your full daily allowance is 40 euros per day and your adjusted daily allowance is 33.70 euros per day, the maximum time calculator will accrue days from a four-calendar-week application (20 days x 33.70 euros): 40.00 = 16.85, that is, 17 days. When calculating the maximum payment period, the amount paid as an adjusted daily allowance is converted into full earnings-related allowance days.
You can receive daily allowance from the unemployment fund for five days a week for 300–500 days of unemployment. The maximum period depends on your work history and age:
| Work history | Maximum time |
| Up to 3 years | 300 days (approx. 14 months) |
| More than 3 years | 400 days (approx. 18 months) |
| At least 5 years of work history in the last 20 years and your employment condition is met after the age of 58 | 500 days (approx. 23 months) |
If you comply again with the employment condition of 26 calendar weeks, the maximum period starts again from the beginning. The earnings-related daily allowance is recalculated when the employment condition is met, if more than one year has elapsed since the start of the previous maximum period. The start of the maximum period refers to the first day of payment of the daily allowance.
The earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated when the employment condition is met if the new maximum period starts within one year of the start of the previous maximum period, and the daily allowance was calculated at that time.
If your employment condition is met again during independent studies or labour market training, the daily allowance will not be recalculated in the middle of the service.
Once the maximum payment period has been reached, you can apply for labour market support from Kela. You will receive a written decision on the termination of your entitlement to an earnings-related daily allowance with your last payment notification. Submit the decision to Kela and the TE Office.
An earnings-related daily allowance can also be paid after the maximum period if you are entitled to additional days of an earnings-related daily allowance, i.e. you remain in the so-called "retirement streak".
Additional days of a daily allowance ("retirement streak") means that you can receive an earnings-related daily allowance even if the maximum period for the daily allowance has expired. Additional days can be paid until the end of the calendar month in which you turn 65.
You may be entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance for additional days if you have been employed for at least five years during the past 20 years and
| were born in the year, and | before the maximum period has been reached |
| 1957-1960 | 61 years |
| 1961-62 | 62 years |
| 1963 | 63 years |
| 1964 | 64 years |
You do not need to apply for additional days separately, but we will automatically examine your entitlement, based on your application for an earnings-related daily allowance.
If you have been paid additional days and you then intend to apply for an old-age pension
You can request a certificate at the earliest when you have been paid a daily allowance for at least one day during the month preceding the start of your pension.
For example, requesting a certificate for additional days
The A-fund has paid you additional days of an earnings-related daily allowance. You plan to retire on 1 April You can request a certificate at the earliest when the daily allowance has been paid to you on or after 1 March.
If they wish, people born between 1950 and 1957 can retire on an old-age pension after the age of 62, and no early retirement deduction will be made from the pension.
Your daily allowance will be determined, i.e., recalculated, when
The amount of your earnings-related allowance will not be recalculated when
If your employment condition is met during independent studies or labour market training, the daily allowance will not be recalculated in the middle of the service.
However, the recalculation of the amount of the daily allowance should be seen separately from the start of the calculation of the maximum daily allowance period, i.e., 300–500 daily allowance days:
Example, the daily allowance is recalculated
Your employment condition will be met again on 24 April 2022. The daily allowance was previously calculated, and the waiting period will apply from 3 May to 9 May 2021, but the daily allowance has not been paid for any single day. The first day of unemployment is 25 April 2022. However, the daily allowance was not paid in 2021, so the maximum period of the daily allowance has not started. The waiting period will apply from 24 April 2022, and the daily allowance will be recalculated.
Example, the daily allowance is not recalculated
Your employment condition will be met again on 20 March 2022. The last time your daily allowance was calculated, and the waiting period was set was in March 2021. The first daily allowance was paid on 29 March 2021. After the employment condition has been met, the first payable day of the new maximum period without the waiting period would be 21 March 2022, i.e., within one year of the start of the previous maximum period on 29 March 2021. The daily allowance will not be recalculated, and the waiting period will not be set. The payment of the daily allowance will continue from 21 March 2022 with the daily allowance calculated in March 2021. The maximum period starts from the beginning.
The amount of your daily allowance is at least 80% of your previous daily allowance (without the child increase) when
There is no protection of 80% of the daily allowance if
If you are between 57–59 years of age and your employment condition has been met in an employment arranged based on an employment obligation:
If you have reached the age of 58 and your employment condition is met:
The amount of the daily allowance for persons aged 60 or over shall not be recalculated if
The waiting period is five days during which you have been unemployed as a jobseeker at the TE Office.
Weekdays from Monday to Friday are accepted as a waiting period, and a calendar week can include a maximum of five days of a waiting period, unemployment and working days. The waiting period must be accrued over a period of eight consecutive calendar weeks.
The waiting period cannot include time for which there is no entitlement to a daily allowance (for example, during the accrual of a financial benefit).
If you have working hours from part-time or occasional employment during the waiting period, this period is the number of hours equivalent to five days.
Example
You work part-time for four hours a day and five days per week from Monday to Friday. The maximum working time for a full-time employee in your work is 40 hours per week, or 8 hours per day.
You apply for an adjusted daily allowance for the duration of your part-time employment, and you have no other employment. As you work part-time for four hours a day, your waiting period also accrues at the rate of four hours per day. In this case, your waiting period will be reached in 10 working days.
For the duration of services promoting employment, no waiting period is applicable in practise. The waiting period runs at the same time as a daily allowance is paid for the duration of the service.
Midweek holidays can also be included in the waiting period if you have registered with the TE Office before the midweek holiday, and your employer is not obliged to pay compensation for midweek holidays in the event of a lay-off.
A waiting period is set when
However, the waiting period will not be reset if
The TE Office issues a statement on the suspension period that is binding to the unemployment fund, and there is no entitlement to a daily allowance during the suspension period.
If you have resigned from your job without a valid reason or caused the employment to end, the TE Office will set a non-remunerated deadline, i.e., a suspension period.
The TE Office issues a statement on the suspension period that is binding to the unemployment fund, and there is no entitlement to a daily allowance during the suspension period.
An exception to this rule is employment-promoting services agreed with the TE Office, for which the daily allowance is paid concurrently with the suspension period.
A suspension period is different from a five-day waiting period.
You can receive an earnings-related daily allowance if certain conditions are met during the waiting period of the sickness allowance. Apply for sickness allowance from Kela if your illness lasts more than 9 days (including Saturdays).
You cannot receive an earnings-related daily allowance if you receive sickness or partial sickness allowance from Kela or if your employer pays you sick pay.
Read more about sickness allowance on Kela's website.
If your illness lasted no more than 1+9 days (the first day of illness and 9 days of illness including Saturdays), you do not need to apply for sickness allowance from Kela.
If you are applying for an earnings-related daily allowance from the A-fund, proceed as follows:
If your incapacity for work continues even though the maximum period of 300 days for Kela's sickness allowance has been reached, you can apply for an earnings-related daily allowance from the fund.
If you are applying for an earnings-related daily allowance from the A-fund, proceed as follows:
You are not entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance paid by the unemployment fund for strike days if
Instead, in these situations, you can apply for strike pay from your own trade union or from another trade union that has called the strike.
If you are laid off, you are entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance for the days your are laid off, provided that
If you are applying for an earnings-related daily allowance for days, you are laid off and taking the above into account, follow these steps:
If your working week is shortened because you are laid off, you cannot receive an earnings-related daily allowance for strike days that fall on your working days.
You cannot receive an earnings-related daily allowance during a strike if you work part-time and have received an adjusted daily allowance from us.
If your work is interrupted due to industrial action in another industry, you may be entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance.
When your work is prevented due to a strike in another industry that is not aimed at affecting your terms of employment, your employer has an obligation to pay seven days of wages. If the strike that prevents your work lasts longer than seven days, you are entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance without the five-day waiting period.
Also in this case, remember to register as a jobseeker at the TE Office so that you can apply for the daily allowance. Tell the TE Office that you have been prevented from working due to an industrial action (strike or lockout) by another group of employees or the employer.
You may be entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance if your work is interrupted due to industrial action in another industry.
NB! In this case, your employer has a seven-day obligation to pay wages. After seven days and if the strike that prevents you from working continues, you are entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance without a five-day waiting period.
During the lay-off period, the payment of an earnings-related daily allowance depends on the provisions of the collective agreement.
The employer's obligation to pay wages for midweek holidays also depends on the collective agreement. You can check the provisions of the collective agreement on midweek holiday compensation, for example, with your trade union.
Vid väderhinder kan du ansöka om dagpenning från kassan under vissa förutsättningar.
In the event of a weather barrier, you can apply for a daily allowance from the fund under certain conditions.
If work is prevented due to freezing temperatures, those working in the building and forestry industry must have agreed on a frost limit before starting the employment. A weather barrier is a situation in accordance with a collective agreement in the building or the forestry industry where
In this case, you can apply for the daily allowance from the fund, if the employer has not paid wages or other remuneration for the days in question. However, always fill in the application for entire calendar weeks from Monday to Sunday.
In the forest machinery sector or in the sheet metal and industrial insulation sector an employee may be laid off due to a weather barrier. You can also apply for a daily allowance for these days if you are laid off.
If you are applying for daily allowance for the first time in the event of a weather barrier or your employment condition has been met again, the five-day waiting period will be set normally.
In case of doubt, you should contact either your own trade union or the customer service of the A-fund.
Note! The Unemployment Fund specifically needs a revised tax card for the benefit if you want to change the tax rate.
Your tax rate will be increased to at least 25% when the earnings-related allowance is paid unless you deliver a revised tax card for the benefit to the unemployment fund. If the withholding tax for salary has been, for example, 15.50 percent, without a revised tax card it will automatically be increased to 25 percent. Please note that the tax percentage of the earnings-related allowance cannot be changed if you have ordered a revised tax card for your salary from the tax administration.
As a general rule, the Unemployment Fund receives tax withholding information directly from the Tax Administration. It is not necessary to send paper versions of tax cards that are meant for salary or revised tax cards meant for benefits to the unemployment fund.
You can order and submit a revised tax card for benefits by using the Tax Administration’s MyTax service. In addition, see the tax administration’s instructions “How to request a tax card for wage or benefit income in MyTax”.
Your tax rate is also determined for other benefits, i.e., job alternation compensation, mobility allowance and restructuring protection allowance, in the same way as the earnings-related allowance.
If you have worked part-time while getting your pension, your earnings-related allowance is determined from the income from part-time work, in which case the amount of the full earnings-related daily allowance is lower than the daily allowance determined from the income from full-time work.
As a rule, a partial early old-age pension does not affect earnings-related unemployment allowance. In other words, the pension is not a benefit that prevents you from receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance and is not deducted from the allowance. However, a partial early old-age pension may have an impact on the amount of full earnings-related unemployment allowance calculated by the fund and on the payment status of the allowance.
You can apply for partial early old-age pension from your employee pension institution. You can retire on a partial early old-age pension at the earliest when you turn 61 if you were born in 1963 or earlier. If you were born in 1964, you can retire on a partial old-age pension at the age of 62.
The amount of earnings-related unemployment allowance for the period while you receive partial early old-age pension is determined immediately before the start of unemployment or temporary lay-off.
If you have worked full-time while receiving your pension, the period which you receive the pension has no effect on the amount of the daily allowance.
If you have worked part-time while receiving your pension, your daily allowance is determined based on income from part-time work. In this case, the amount of the full daily allowance is less than the allowance determined based on income from full-time work.
If you have worked full-time, receive a partial early old-age pension and are unemployed or laid off, the payment of your daily allowance is not affected. In other words, you will receive a full daily allowance even if the partial early old-age pension continues while you are unemployed. The partial early old-age pension is not deducted from your daily allowance.
If you have worked part-time, receive a partial early old-age pension, and become unemployed or are laid off, you will be paid adjusted daily allowance, and the wages for part-time work paid during the four-week or one-month conciliation period will affect the amount of earnings-related allowance. The partial early old-age pension is not deducted from your daily allowance.
Example 1: Full-time work and partial early old-age pension
You have worked full-time while receiving a partial early old-age pension. Your full-time salary is 2,500 euros per month, of which the amount of full daily allowance is 70.49 euros. Your become unemployed and after the waiting period, receive the full daily allowance of 70.49 euros per day.
Example 2: Part-time work and partial early old-age pension
You have worked part-time while receiving a partial early old-age pension. Your part-time salary is 1,875 euros per month, of which the amount of full daily allowance is 57.98 euros. You become unemployed. You are still paid the part-time salary of 1,875 euros during your first adjustment period. After the waiting period, you will receive an adjusted daily allowance of 0.58 euros per day. If the next application period no longer has a payday for the part-time work, you will receive the full daily allowance of 57.98 euros per day for the following period.
Please find out the amount of your pension from your own employee pension institution before applying for a partial old-age pension.
You can also find more information about the partial old-age pension on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
Postal address:
Hakaniemenranta 1
PL 116, 00531 Helsinki
