Unemployment security
Employment and Economic Development Services (TE services)
If you become unemployed or without work, or you are prevented from working or you are laid off, register promptly as an unemployed job-seeker on the website of the Employment and Economic Development Services (TE-keskus/TE Centre). Your registration will be become effective right away, but it cannot be pre-dated, say, to the previous day. Unemployment benefits are only paid for the period during which your registration is active. Register as an unemployed job-seeker (in Finnish/Swedish) >
Unemployment funds
If you are a wage-earner, you should obtain insurance by joining a wage-earners’ unemployment fund, and if a self-employed person, an entrepreneurs’ unemployment fund.
A-kassa Unemployment Fund
Apply to the A-kassa Unemployment Fund for earning-related unemployment allowance >
Self-employed persons’ unemployment security
For information on self-employed persons’ unemployment security, go to the website of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises at Suomen Yrittäjäin Työttömyyskassan (SYT-kassa) >.
Full-time students
As a rule, full-time students are not entitled to unemployment benefits. Read more >
The TE Centre issues a ‘labour policy opinion’ which you then use a basis for your application for unemployment allowance, labour market subsidy or earnings-related unemployment allowance. If you are a member of an unemployment fund, the benefit will be paid by your fund (e.g. A-kassa, SYT, YTK), or by Kela (Finnish Social Insurance Institution).
The labour policy opinion is used in dealings with the payer of the benefit (Kela or the unemployment fund).
Benefits paid by Kela:
- Basic unemployment allowance
- Labour market subsidy
Benefit paid by unemployment funds:
- Earnings-related unemployment allowance
FAQ – Unemployment
Am I entitled to benefits paid by the unemployment fund if I lose out on work due to the coronavirus pandemic?
Yes. If you are a salaried employee, you are entitled to full pay for a maximum period of 14 days, if you are prevented from working for reasons beyond the control of both you and your employer. Your employer’s obligation to pay your salary ends in 14 days. After this, you will be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Aside from unemployed jobseekers, laid-off personnel and people whose salary payments and work have been discontinued for a reason comparable to layoff, are entitled to unemployment benefits. The “reasons comparable to layoff” include situations in which the performance of work is prevented for reasons beyond the control of both you and your employer (such as a ban imposed by the authorities because of the pandemic).
Part-time self-employed persons are also entitled to the unemployment allowance to cover losses of earnings due to the coronavirus. If you are self-employed on a full-time basis, you will only be entitled to the unemployment allowance if you are a member of an entrepreneurs’ unemployment fund.
When an employee is ordered to stay away from the workplace to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the loss of income is compensated in the form of the communicable disease allowance. If you are paid the communicable disease allowance in such a situation, it will be deducted from your unemployment allowance.
Do I need a statement verifying the cancellation of the gig when registering with the TE Centre or unemployment fund?
When you register as an unemployed job-seeker, you need to be able to demonstrate, in one way or another, that you have been laid off or that your employment has been terminated. If you are laid off, you will receive a written notice to this effect. In some cases, the employer reports lay-offs directly to the TE Centre. If, by contrast, your employment has ended and this is not indicated in, say, your certificate of fixed-term employment, you may ask your employer to give a specific certificate saying that your employment has ended. More information on the necessary reports and certificates is provided by the TE Centre.
The coronavirus pandemic does not, as such, create a specific right to unemployment allowance; instead, the right to the allowance is determined according to the general regulations concerning the period of employment and other matters.
If you engagement or gig for which were to receive non-wage work compensation is cancelled, you may mark such a day as a day without work. If the cancellation of the gig is disputed, said day must be indicated as legally disputed, with the result that no unemployment allowance is necessarily paid for said day.