Applying for unemployment allowance

  1. Register as a jobseeker no later than your first day of unemployment or temporary lay-off in the E-services of Job Market Finland.
  2. Apply for the daily allowance on KOKO’s eService. The first application can be submitted once you have been unemployed or temporarily laid off for 2 weeks. Otherwise, the allowance is applied for in periods of a month or 4 calendar weeks. The daily allowance is always applied for in retrospect for a time that has already passed.
  3. You will get a payment notification, when your application has been processed. You will receive the notification via email by default, but you can swap to SMS notifications from the settings section of your eService homepage.

In more detail:

1. Register as a jobseeker in Job market Finland

Make the registration on the first day of unemployment or temporary lay-off at the latest, using the Job market Finland portal. The day of registration is the earliest possible day that the allowance can be paid for. You can only receive daily allowance for a time that your job search is in force. Also waiting period can only be set on days when your job search is valid. Keep your job search in force as per the instructions given by the employment authorities.

It is recommended to register as a jobseeker in the beginning of your unemployment, even if the allowance cannot be paid because of, for example, a severance package paid by the employer. You will lose your eligibility for the earnings-related allowance if you are absent from the labour market for more than 6 months without an acceptable reason. In that case, the employment condition will have to be entirely fulfilled again after the absence before the right to earnings–related allowance is restored.

Report your studies and business activities

Notify the employment authorities if you are studying, or if you are involved in entrepreneurship or own a part of a company. Any business activity must be reported even if you do not receive any income based on it.

More information on the labour policy statement

If you apply for the transition security allowance, register as a jobseeker within 60 days

If you apply for the transition security allowance, register as an unemployed jobseeker within 60 days of your dismissal. For further instructions, see the Transition security page.

2. Apply for the unemployment allowance from KOKO fund

The earnings-related allowance is paid by the unemployment fund based on an application. Apply for the daily allowance on KOKO’s eService in retrospect in periods of a month or 4 weeks. The first application can already be sent after 2 weeks, if you are unemployed or temporarily laid off full-time. You can send your application to KOKO even if you have not received the labour policy statement yet.

Attach the required information to your application. If you do not have all the attachments at hand when submitting your application, you can complete the application later. If we need any additional information, we will contact you separately.

Apply for the daily allowance within 3 months

Apply for the allowance within 3 months of the day you want the allowance to be paid for.

The application deadline applies to all situations. Therefore, apply for the unemployment allowance within the application period, even if

  • you do not have all the attachments for the application
  • you have not received a labour policy statement
  • your previous applications have not been processed yet
  • you are waiting for another matter to be solved.

The daily allowance is applied for also the waiting period. KOKO will calculate the days of your waiting period from your application, which means you do not need to take them into account yourself.

If you have been temporarily laid off on a shortened working week, fill out the applications for complete calendar weeks

If you are temporarily laid off on a shortened working week, please fill out the application for complete calendar weeks. A person’s working hours are monitored on a calendar week basis if their working hours are reduced by shortening the working week.

Report all changes on your application

Always notify the fund of anything that affects the payment of the daily allowance, such as the working hours done as a wage-earner, earnings and fees received during the applied period, entrepreneurship, sickness, studying or any other benefits you have applied for or received. Also notify us of any changes to the information given earlier.

Further information on the applications and how they are processed

Information on processing applications in KOKO

The application types are first, follow-up and express application

Unemployment benefits glossary