To receive an earnings-related allowance (ansiopäiväraha) if you lose your job in Finland, you must join an unemployment fund (työttömyyskassa) while you are still working. Membership does not work retroactively, meaning only work done while you are a fund member counts toward your qualification. If you become unemployed without fund membership, you must rely on basic support through Kela benefits in Finland instead.

What an unemployment fund is and why you join while still employed

The earnings-related allowance is paid by the unemployment fund you belong to, and its amount is calculated directly from your salary. You can join a fund while employed or self-employed. The work does not need to be permanent, and short stints are enough to register your membership.

Funds vary in their membership criteria. Some funds are sector-specific, some require specific training or education, and some accept anyone regardless of their field. There is also a single unemployment fund dedicated to entrepreneurs, Yrittäjän Työttömyyskassa (the Entrepreneur Fund). Crucially, only work completed while you are already a fund member counts towards the required employment history. If you are not a member of a fund when your employment ends, you receive unemployment benefit from Kela instead.

Choosing a fund and what it costs in 2026

For 2026, membership fees vary depending on the organisation:

If you decide to change funds, your accumulated work and membership periods carry over to the new fund, provided there is no gap longer than one month between memberships. The Federation of Unemployment Funds (Työttömyyskassojen Yhteisjärjestö or TYJ) advises joining a fund while you are still a student, provided you are working alongside your studies.

Moving to Finland and joining a fund

When relocating to Finland, you should join a fund as soon as you start working. Under normal circumstances, you can only join while actively working or operating a business.

There are specific exceptions if you move from within the European Union. Someone moving from another EU country can join a Finnish fund while unemployed for a limited time, which in most cases means within one month of moving or within one month of leaving their last job. Work history accumulated in another EU country normally counts towards your record, but the allowance can often be claimed only after you have completed four weeks of work in Finland.

Immigration status can also determine eligibility. A person whose residence permit limits them to one specific employer cannot register as an unemployed jobseeker. Because valid jobseeker registration is a mandatory precondition for any unemployment benefit, holding a single-employer permit blocks access to the allowance. If your employment terms end unexpectedly, review the rules on probation period and worker rights in Finland and what happens when losing your job on a work permit.

The employment condition since 2 September 2024

To qualify for the earnings-related allowance, you must fulfil an employment condition (työssäoloehto). Under TYJ terms and duration rules, the requirement is 12 months of work completed while being a fund member. These months do not have to be continuous.

Under reforms introduced on 2 September 2024, the condition is assessed purely on your earnings rather than the hours you worked each week:

Until 1 September 2024, the allowance could be granted after six months of work; from September 2024 onward, one full year of work is required. Furthermore, the qualifying month is determined by the date your salary is paid, not the date the work was performed. Pay months from the preceding 2 years and 4 months can be included in the calculation. This look-back period can stretch up to 9 years and 4 months if you have acceptable reasons for not working, such as study, illness, military service, family leave, or caring for a small child. Completing 12 qualifying months with at least EUR 930 per month resets your maximum payment period.

The daily allowance consists of a basic component and an earnings-related component:

Earnings-related allowances are treated as taxable income in Finland.

The benefit decreases the longer you remain unemployed. The allowance is reduced to 80% of its original amount after you have received it for 40 days (roughly two months). It drops further to 75% of the original amount after 170 days of payments (around eight months). Regardless of these reductions, the allowance is always paid at least at the level of the basic unemployment allowance.

How long it lasts

The allowance is paid for a set maximum duration based on your overall career history:

Because the allowance is paid for five days per week, a 300-day entitlement lasts about 14 months, 400 days lasts about 18 months, and 500 days covers approximately 23 months.

Claiming, step by step, and what changed in 2024

Securing your allowance requires following a strict sequence of steps:

  1. Register as a jobseeker on Job Market Finland (Työmarkkinatori) no later than your first day out of work. You cannot backdate this registration, and the fund can only pay an allowance for days when your jobseeker status is active.
  2. Serve the personal liability period (omavastuuaika). No allowance is paid for the first seven days of unemployment. This waiting period was increased from five to seven days as part of the recent welfare reforms.
  3. File your application through your unemployment fund's online portal once you have been unemployed for two weeks. The application must arrive at your fund within three months of the first day for which you claim the benefit.
  4. Submit your documentation. Funds typically require a copy of your employment contract and your official termination or lay-off notice.

Several longstanding features were abolished during 2024. Child increases to the earnings-related allowance paid by unemployment funds were removed on 1 April 2024. On the same date, the protected earning amount—which previously allowed recipients to earn up to EUR 300 a month without any reduction in benefits—expired. All earnings now reduce the allowance: part-time earnings reduce the benefit payment by half of the amount earned, so earning EUR 500 in wages reduces your allowance by EUR 250.

Self-employed people

Entrepreneurs have separate qualification rules through the designated entrepreneurs' fund. An entrepreneur qualifies for earnings-related benefits after completing at least 15 months of business activity while holding fund membership. This duration must be composed of periods of at least 4 months with an annual income (annuity) of at least EUR 15,128.

Operating a small-scale side business alongside an ordinary salaried job does not prevent you from joining a fund or receiving the regular earnings-related allowance. If you find yourself unemployed and decide to launch a business, the scale of your business activity does not affect your earnings-related allowance for the first 4 months.