Unemployment benefits glossary

Before any daily allowance is paid, there is a 7-day waiting period corresponding to 7 full working days. A maximum of 5 days may elapse of the 7-day waiting period within a week.

In terms of unemployment benefits, you are considered to be in the labour market if you are in gainful employment as defined by the employment condition, employed as an entrepreneur or registered as an unemployed jobseeker. If you have been absent from the labour market for more than 6 months without an acceptable reason, the employment condition must be re-fulfilled in order to be entitled to earnings-related allowance.

Entitlement to additional allowance days means that persons of a certain age can receive earnings-related daily allowance even beyond the maximum period.

Adjusted daily allowance is daily allowance that is not as high as the full earnings-related daily allowance, since it has been lowered on the basis of any earned income affecting it.

KOKO pays out daily allowances every weekday. With automatic payment, your daily allowance application is processed automatically without needing any human processing. Only follow-up applications qualify for automatic payment and them, too, only if there are no changes regarding your unemployment conditions.

Border workers work in another country where they live. They must come back to their home country at least once a week.

All weekdays from Monday till Sunday are considered as calendar days. For example, in January there are 31 calendar days.

The calendar month runs from the first to the last day of the month. In contrast, a month can be any month-long period from the 15th to the 14th of the following month, for example. From 2 September 2024 onwards, the employment condition is accrued based on calendar months.

A calendar week begins on a Monday and ends on Sunday. In contrast, a week may begin on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday, for example. If you have been laid off on a shorter working week, you need to fill in your applications for full calendar weeks.

Employees posted abroad work outside Finland but continue to be covered for the entire duration under Finnish social security. All social security contributions and insurance premiums related to the salary are paid into Finland.

The employment authority means either an individual municipality or an employment area formed by several municipalities. In the future, employment services in Finland are organised by 45 employment areas (including municipalities that organise the services independently). Labour policy statements that do not require legal consideration (such as statements on whether you are active seeking a job) are issued by the employment authority.

To receive earnings-related daily unemployment allowance, you must meet both the membership and employment conditions. This means that you must have worked a sufficiently long time while you have also been a member of an unemployment fund. Read more: Conditions for earnings-related allowance

Entitlement to extra days means that persons of a certain age can receive earnings-related daily allowance even beyond the maximum period. The right to extra days is eliminated entirely from persons born in 1965 or later.

The EU area consists of the EU and EEA countries and Switzerland. The EU countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland (the Isle of Man and Channel Island, for example, are not part of the EEA). In addition to the above, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are EEA countries.

Extension period refers to a time period that lengthens the review period. On extension period you have had an acceptable reason to be out of the labour market, such as study, parental leave, or military service.

A full-time entrepreneur, in terms of unemployment security, is a person whose business activities the KEHA Centre considers to be full-time.

Work, of which the working hours are more than 80% of full-time employment. Under the Unemployment Security Act, part-time work can also be considered full-time employment if the working hours exceed the 80% threshold. For example, if you work 32 hours a week and the number of weekly hours in full-time work is 37.5 hours, you are considered to work full-time (37.5 h * 0.80 = 30 h). A daily unemployment allowance cannot be paid for periods of full-time work lasting more than two weeks.

The ground for an adjustment means that, during the adjustment period for the daily allowance, you have been paid income from, for example, part-time work or business activities. In some layoff situations, the adjustment ground arises from the fact that during the adjustment period you are working part-time.

A holiday bonus is generally 50% of your holiday pay. Employers pay holiday bonus on the basis of the collective agreement, employment contract, or general practice at the workplace. A holiday bonus is not statutory, so not everyone is automatically entitled to it. Holiday bonus is not taken into account when calculating daily allowance.

Compensation paid at the end of an employment relationship for any holiday days that you have not taken off. Holiday compensation may also be paid with each salary. Holiday compensation is not taken into account when calculating daily allowance.

Pay during holiday. Holiday pay is taken into account in daily allowance calculation as normal pay.

The Incomes Register is a national digital database of wages and salaries, pensions and various benefits. The unemployment fund receives information about wages and salaries directly from the Incomes Register. It is possible that the unemployment fund may need to ask you for your salary or employment information if your employer has not reported all the required information in the Incomes Register.

Until 31 December 2024, an increased earnings-related component could be paid for periods during which you participated in services that promote employment.

Register as an unemployed jobseeker in the Job Market Finland service at the latest on the first day of your unemployment or layoff. Your entitlement to unemployment benefits cannot begin before you register as a jobseeker. In the Job Market Finland service, you also contact the employment authority.

KEHA, or the Development and Administrative Services Centre for the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, issues labour policy statements in cases that require it. The duties of the KEHA Centre also include giving advice on matters that concern expert opinions (such as suspension periods, business activities and studies) and matters related to wage security.

You live in Finland if you have a permanent address in Finland and close family connections even if you work in another EU or EEA country. For non-EU/EEA countries, the determination is made according to the time limits specified in national legislation. Determining your permanent address is always done case by case when processing an application for earnings-related allowance.

As a managing director of a limited liability company, you may be working as a salaried managing director or as an entrepreneur. The managing director is not considered to be employed by the company under the Limited Liability Companies Act and Employment Contracts Act. This means that the managing director is not entitled to a daily allowance for periods of layoff. However, work performed as a salaried managing director is considered comparable to work that counts towards the employment condition, even if no employment relationship exists.

If your work as a salaried managing director ends entirely, you can receive daily allowance based on your salary from the work as a managing director, provided that the other requirements are met, and the earnings-related daily allowance is defined in the same way as for other employees.

Other business activities performed alongside your work as a managing director may affect your entitlement to daily allowance, so be sure to report such activities when you register as a jobseeker.

The maximum period for the payment of earnings-related daily allowance is 300, 400, or 500 days. Daily allowance is paid for 5 days a week.

To meet the membership condition for earnings-related unemployment allowance, you must have been a member of an unemployment fund for at least

26 weeks, if the final work week that counts towards earnings-related unemployment allowance ends on 1 September 2024 or earlier.
12 months, if you have worked on or after 2 September 2024 and earned at least €465 per month.
Read more: Conditions for earnings-related allowance

Own work is work that is not gainful employment. For example, being a family carer is considered own work.

A part-time entrepreneur, in terms of unemployment security, is a person whose business activities the KEHA Centre considers to be part-time.

Work that takes up a maximum of 80% of full-time work is considered part-time work. For example, 80% of 37.5 hours is 30 hours.

A pay certificate is a certificate issued by an employer for the unemployment fund concerning salary payment during a specified period. The pay certificate must specify, not only the monthly pay, but also any holiday bonuses and compensation, and all other items paid in addition to the monthly pay.

A payslip is a document provided on each pay day by the employer containing details about the pay.

Any compensation (golden handshake) at the end of an employment relationship will postpone the right to earnings-related allowance. This is called periodisation. This only affects days from Monday to Friday.

A daily allowance is paid on the basis of post-protection when, for example, a new business operations ends within 18 months and the entrepreneur’s employment condition has not yet been fulfilled. In such a case the allowance is based on the right to earnings-related allowance previously accumulated.

The review period is 28 months, within which the employment condition must be fulfilled. The review period is calculated backwards from the date when you registered with the TE Office as a jobseeker. The review period can be extended if you have been out of the labour market for an acceptable reason, such as study or parental leave.

Posted workers abroad are paid in the country they are working in. Salary for insurance purposes is the salary reported by the employer to, for example, a pension insurance company, for the purposes of Finnish social welfare and social insurance payments. The daily allowance of a posted worker is calculated from the salary for insurance purposes. The salary earned in the country where the work is performed may be different from the salary for insurance purposes reported to Finland.

Labour policy statement issued by the employment authorities or the KEHA Centre. The fund must receive a statement that there are no restrictions to daily allowance payment to you. In order to receive a statement, you must be registered as a jobseeker in the Job Market Finland service.

A period determined by the KEHA Centre, during which no daily allowance is paid. A suspension period may be imposed if you have resigned your job or refused to accept a job, for example. The suspension period is often confused with the 7-day waiting period and periodisation.

The former Employment and Economic Development Offices were responsible for issuing a labour policy statement about your unemployment to the fund. TE offices were discontinued at the start of 2025. As of 1 January 2025, the services for unemployed people and jobseekers are provided by the employment area formed by the municipality of residence or several municipalities. Labour policy statements are issued by the employment authority and/or the KEHA Centre. See the entries in this glossary for KEHA Centre, Employment area, Job Market Finland, Employment authority.

Any other country than EU/EEA countries and Switzerland is considered a third country.

A TyEL reduction of 3.54% (2025) will be made of accumulated earnings before calculating the amount of your daily allowance. The amount of the reduction is checked annually, and it corresponds to an employee’s employment pension and unemployment insurance contributions and health insurance daily allowance.

The U1 form is a form used to transfer employment and insurance periods between EU area countries. The form is needed when you move into another EU country and claim unemployment benefits there. Authorities in your current country of residence request the form from the authorities in your previous country of work in the digital JINA system if/when you apply for benefits in that country. In other words, you do not need to request the form yourself.

You will need the unemployment fund to issue you with an U2 form when you go and look for work within the EU. The form does not need to be requested in advance. The employment authorities of the country where you are looking for work request it from KOKO fund in the digital JINA system. Before leaving to another country to look for work, you will need a labour policy statement on jobseeking in the EU.

A work hour bank is a system allowing employees some flexibility in when to do their work, enabling them to deposit and withdraw working hours.