The legislative proposal to introduce a combined unemployment insurance scheme is currently being reviewed by Parliament. The new scheme is designed to improve the unemployment security of those with multiple income streams.
More and more people today have income from both employment and self-employment, either on a part-time or seasonal basis. Running a business alongside regular employment has become increasingly common, as have freelance and platform work. Some people receive additional income from contract work and grants.
How would combined insurance change unemployment benefits?
At the moment, eligibility for an earnings-related unemployment allowance can only be accrued through either employment or self-employment, as the current system classifies individuals as either wage earners or entrepreneurs. The new combined insurance scheme would make it possible to accrue eligibility for an earnings-related unemployment allowance from multiple income streams simultaneously.
Combined insurance would also affect the amount of the earnings-related unemployment allowance. Both income from employment and entrepreneurial income could be taken into account as the basis for calculating the daily allowance.
The current system where unemployment funds can only cater for either wage earners or entrepreneurs would be replaced by a new system that would allow funds to offer unemployment insurance to wage earners, entrepreneurs and people with income from both employment and self-employment alike.
KOKO supports the reform
“We at KOKO welcome the introduction of combined insurance. Reforming the unemployment security system to better reflect the changing nature of work is important to us. We also consider it fair for unemployment insurance to factor in different ways of working and earning an income,” says KOKO’s Fund Director Outi Mäki.
“There are still some unresolved issues regarding the finer details of the implementation of the combined insurance scheme, but we are definitely heading in the right direction,” Mäki continues.
The combined insurance scheme is scheduled to take effect in 2028.
The table below illustrates how the employment condition for an earnings-related unemployment allowance is accrued and how the daily allowance is calculated for wage earners and entrepreneurs under the current system, as well as how the introduction of the combined insurance scheme would change the situation according to the government proposal.
Earnings-related unemployment security under the new system
| Employees | Self-employed | Combined insurance |
| Employment condition: 12 months. | Employment condition: 15 months. | Employment condition: 12 months. Multiple income streams required during the period that counts towards meeting the employment condition. |
| Earning at least EUR 930 per month accrues one month and earning at least EUR 465 per month accrues half a month towards meeting the employment condition. | Pension insurance coverage and the chosen unemployment insurance level must be at least EUR 15,481 per year. | Building towards meeting the employment condition requires an income of at least EUR 930 per month. |
| The daily allowance is determined solely on the basis of earned income. | The daily allowance is determined solely on the basis of the chosen insurance level. | The daily allowance is determined on the basis of earned income and the chosen insurance level. |
| Also applicable to family caregivers and grant-funded workers in due course. | Also applicable to family caregivers and grant-funded workers in due course. |