Did you know that you can and should already join an unemployment fund during your studies?
As a student, you can join the unemployment fund if you are in paid employment. When starting a summer job, for example, it’s a good time to check the status of your unemployment fund membership and join if you are not already a member.
Safeguard for your working life
When you are a member of the fund and work during your studies, you accrue earnings-related allowance for yourself during your studies. If you do not find employment immediately after graduation, you have the opportunity to receive earnings-related unemployment allowance paid by the fund.
The earnings-related unemployment allowance is based on wage income and is usually higher than unemployment benefits paid by Kela. For example, with a monthly income of €3000, the full earnings-related allowance is €1700 per month. The amount of the basic daily allowance or labour market subsidy paid by Kela is about €800 per month in 2024. Estimate your daily allowance with KOKO’s allowance calculator.
The amount of earnings-related allowance decreases the longer the unemployment lasts. More information: Staggering of earnings-related allowance.
Students can accumulate employment condition over a longer period of time
In order to receive earnings-related daily allowance, you must meet the employment condition during the membership of the unemployment fund. This means that you must have worked for a certain amount of time while you were a member of the unemployment fund. Therefore, it is a good idea to become a member in time so that you can accrue the employment condition.
For more information, check the page Conditions for earnings-related allowance to see what is considered paid employment in accordance with the employment condition and how your employment condition is accrued. Please note that, due to changes in legislation, there is now both an old and a new version of the employment condition.
Earnings-related unemployment security is accumulated by a wide variety of paid employment that counts towards the employment condition. Therefore, when joining the fund, you do not have to be working in a job related to your own field of study. A part-time employee can also join the unemployment fund.
The work does not have to be for a single employer nor does it have to be done continuously: you can accrue working months over several years, for example in summer jobs.
On the other hand, there cannot be any interruptions in the membership of the unemployment fund. So, after you join, stay a member of the fund throughout your studies – even if you don’t work alongside your studies all the time.
You cannot join an unemployment fund retroactively. It is therefore advisable to deal with the matter as soon as your job starts. If you are a union member, you will receive more detailed instructions on joining from your union. The membership fee for the KOKO unemployment fund is €63 this year.
Read more about the KOKO membership.