Amount of earnings-related allowance

On this page, we explain how earnings-related allowance is determined.

You can see the estimate your earnings-related allowance with KOKO’s Daily allowance calculator.

The amount of the earnings-related allowance is calculated on the basis of your salary or wages, taking into account your established earned income.

Earnings included in the calculation

  • salary or wages
  • bonuses paid on top of your salary (such as evening work and shift work bonuses)
  • fringe benefits (such as phone benefit, car benefit, housing benefit)
  • compensation for reduced working hours (so-called “Pekkanen” time off)
  • annual holiday pay
  • performance rewards and bonuses under certain conditions

Earnings that are not included

  • holiday bonus
  • holiday compensation
  • lump sum payment made at the end of an employment relationship
  • performance rewards and bonuses under certain conditions
  • reduced pay during sick leave

Neither list is exhaustive.

Earnings used as the basis for your daily allowance differ from your monthly salary

The earnings used to calculate the amount of your earnings-related allowance differ from your monthly salary. This is due to an unemployment insurance (TyEL) deduction applied to the salary (3.83% in 2026), and from dividing the salary by the number of theoretical average number of working days in a month, or 21.5 days. The example below illustrates how this applies in practice.

The amount of your earnings-related allowance is not a simple percentage of your salary. The allowance consists of:

  • a basic component equal to the basic daily unemployment allowance paid by Kela (€37.21 per day in 2026), and
  • an earnings-related component, which is calculated on the basis of your salary or wages before you became unemployed.

The earnings-related component is 45% of the difference between your daily pay and the basic allowance, but 20% of the pay exceeding €3,534.95 (= 95 x basic component of €37.21).

Formula for calculating daily allowance:

(In the example, the monthly earnings used as the basis for the daily allowance is €3,597.34).

Basic component€37.21 per day
Earnings-related component up to €3,534.9545% * [(monthly earnings up to €3,534.95 / 21.5) – basic component of €37.21] = €57.24 per day
Earnings-related component from earnings that exceed €3,534.9520% * [(€3,597.34 – €3,534.95) / 21.5] = €0.58
Total€37.21 + €57.24 + €0.58
Total amount of earnings-related allowance€95,03 per day

See an estimate of your unemployment allowance using the Daily allowance calculator.

The amount of earnings-related daily allowance decreases the longer you are paid the allowance.

Read more: Staggering of earnings-related allowance

Period from which your allowance is calculated

The amount of your allowance is calculated on the basis of the salary or wages you have earned during the period that counts towards your employment condition.

In the following situations, your allowance is calculated on the basis of your salary or wages before this period:

  • temporary pay reduction
  • job alternation leave
  • part-time child care leave
  • part-time pension
  • partial disability pension

The increased component of earnings-related allowance is no longer paid for the time of attending employment promotion services. Read the news announcement

Unemployment benefits glossary