Did you find a part-time or full-time job?
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You can receive unemployment benefits even if you find a part-time job, or a full-time job that lasts for a maximum of 2 weeks.
In such cases, your unemployment benefit, i.e. basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy, will be adjusted to take into account your wage. Adjusted unemployment benefit means that your unemployment benefit is reduced in line with your wage: the more you earn in wage or salary or income from self-employment, the larger will be the reduction in the unemployment benefit.
Eligibility for adjusted unemployment benefit
You can receive adjusted unemployment benefit if
- you receive a wage from part-time work with working hours of a maximum of 80% of the full-time working hours in the industry in question and there is no full-time work available
- you receive a wage from a full-time job that lasts for a maximum of 2 weeks
- you work shorter days due to temporary lay-off
- you have income from self-employment as a secondary business
- you start self-employment while unemployed
- your full-time self-employment activity provides employment for you for a maximum of 2 weeks.
If you work part-time on a wage subsidy, you can receive adjusted unemployment benefit on the same grounds as for other part-time work.
In order to receive adjusted unemployment benefit, you must be registered as a jobseeker with TE Services the whole time. Even if you work part-time, you must look for a full-time job in accordance with the employment plan you have drawn up together with TE Services.
If you have shortened your working hours on your own initiative, you cannot receive adjusted unemployment benefit.
If you find a full-time job that lasts for more than 2 weeks, you can no longer receive unemployment benefit. Report the termination of the unemployment on an unemployment status report in the OmaKela e-service. Send the report immediately when you have started working.
How to apply for adjusted unemployment benefit
Apply for adjusted unemployment benefit by reporting the days and hours you have worked on the unemployment status report in the OmaKela e-service. Always complete the report for a period that has ended and report the days that you have already worked.
Log in to the OmaKela e-service to apply for adjusted unemployment benefit
Instructions for completing the unemployment status report.
How does the wage affect the benefit?
The basic rule is that each euro of earned income decreases the unemployment benefit by 50 cents.
The amount of the unemployment benefit is affected by all earnings.
Kela obtains information on wages and salaries from the national incomes register. If the data in the national incomes register are incomplete or your employer does not report the data on wages and salaries to the national incomes register within a reasonable time limit, Kela will ask you for additional information.
The amount of the unemployment benefit is affected by all taxable earnings and incomes from self-employment. In addition to wages and salaries, incomes also include for instance compensations for services, taxable compensations for expenses, fringe benefits, holiday bonuses and holiday compensations.
The income affects the benefit of the payment period during which the income is paid to you. When you have earned the income is not significant. If you have for instance worked part-time in May and the wage is paid in mid-June, the wage will affect the unemployment benefit for June.
Kela pays adjusted unemployment benefit also for the days when you are working. The wages will affect the amount of the unemployment benefit for as long as you receive wages.
Vesa starts a part-time job on 15 March. The weekly working hours are 25 hours. The application period for the labour market subsidy ends on 27 March. Vesa reports the days and hours of work for the period from 15 March to 27 March in the unemployment status report. No wage has yet been paid, so he will receive the labour market subsidy to the full amount for the whole period. The wage is paid on the last day of each month. The wage that Vesa receives on 31 March affects the labour market subsidy payable to him for the following payment period from 28 March to 27 April. The wage affects Vesa’s benefit for the whole payment period even though Vesa has been fully unemployed for some days.
Aisha applies monthly for adjusted basic unemployment allowance from Kela. Her employment ends on 20 June and she reports that she is fully unemployed after that. Aisha receives her last wage on 30 June. The wage is taken into account in the decision on the basic unemployment allowance for June. Even though the employment has already ended, Aisha receives retroactively supplements for evening and weekend work on 15 July. They will affect the basic unemployment allowance that Aisha receives for the period from 1 July to 31 July. After that the adjustment will end, which means that the wage no longer affects Aisha’s unemployment benefit as she no longer receives any wages or other taxable compensations.
The exempt amount and the child increases in connection with unemployment benefits have been discontinued as of 1 April 2024
The change applies to unemployment benefit claims for any period beginning on or after 1 April 2024.
Will you start self-employment?
You can receive unemployment benefit for 4 months if you start self-employment while unemployed.
The unemployment benefit will be adjusted with your income from self-employment. Report the income from self-employment in the unemployment status report. Your own estimate of the income from self-employment is sufficient. Also report if you as yet have no income at all.
If you are paid for the work through an invoicing service company, Kela gets the income data from the national incomes register.
When 4 months have past since you started self-employment, TE Services will check whether your self-employment activity is full-time or run as a secondary business. TE Services will issue a statement concerning the matter to Kela.
If the self-employment activity is considered full-time, you can no longer receive unemployment benefit. The income from self-employment activity as a secondary business will affect the unemployment benefit, i.e. you can receive adjusted unemployment benefit.
Did you find a job further away from where you live?
If you find a job further away from where you live, you can get commuting and relocation allowance.