Unemployment benefits
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Benefits from Kela or an unemployment fund
If you become unemployed, you can get unemployment benefits from Kela or an unemployment fund (työttömyyskassa). You cannot get unemployment benefits from Kela and an unemployment fund at the same time.
You must be registered as a jobseeker and be ready to accept a full-time job to qualify for unemployment benefits.
What is the work requirement?
You must be a member of an unemployment fund (työttömyyskassa) to get earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäiväraha). You must also have enough work history from the time before you became unemployed.
This is called the work requirement (työssäoloehto). The work requirement is 12 calendar months. When reviewing your application, Kela or your unemployment fund will check if you have enough work history to fulfil the work requirement for employees.
How does Kela or the unemployment fund calculate the work requirement for employees?
You meet the work requirement for employees if you have accumulated a total of 12 months of work history during a reference period of 28 months.
The reference period is a certain period of time that applies to the work requirement. Work you have done during the reference period counts towards the work requirement.
Usually, the reference period for employees is 28 months and for self-employed persons 48 months.
- However, the period is extended by for example
- military or non-military service
- illness
- full-time studies
- caring for a child under the age of 3
- participation in employment-promoting services.
The maximum extension is 7 years. This means that the longest possible reference period is 9 years and 4 months.
The work you do counts as work history for the work requirement in the following way:
- one month for each calendar month in which you earned at least EUR 930
- half a month for each calendar month in which you earned EUR 465–929.
For the time period before 2 September 2024, calendar weeks during which you worked at least 18 hours also count towards the work requirement.
You fulfil the work requirement if you meet both of the following conditions:
- Your pay (wages or salary) has been consistent with the terms of the collective agreement that applies in your industry.
- If no collective agreement applies, your pay from full-time work must have been at least EUR 1,430 per month in 2025. This means that your daily pay must be at least EUR 66.51 and your hourly pay at least EUR 8.31
- You have accumulated at least 12 months of work history during the reference period (the last 28 months).
The work requirement does not have to be fulfilled during a single, consecutive period of employment. All paid work done during the reference period of 28 months counts towards the requirement, as long as your wages or salary meet the conditions above.
Work you have done in another EU or EEA country, Switzerland, Great Britain or Northern Ireland can also count towards the work requirement.
You accumulate work history for the calendar month in which you are paid your wages or salary. However, there are some exceptions:
- If you are paid late for reasons that have to do with your employer, your wages or salary will be recognised for the calendar month in which they were scheduled to be paid.
- If you are paid for a period longer than a month rather than monthly as is the norm, your progress towards meeting the work requirement is calculated so that your wages or salary are divided among the number of calendar months during which you have earned them and recognised for the same number of months.
- If you are paid bonuses or other performance-based wages for a period longer than one month, these performance-based wages will be recognised for the period during which you earned them.
Wage-subsidised work will only count towards the work requirement if the work is intended to facilitate the employment of a person with reduced work capacity or the employment of a long-term unemployed person over the age of 60.
Wage-subsidised work will only begin to count towards the work requirement after 10 months of work. In that case, 75% of the wage-subsidised work will count towards the requirement. The 25% of the wage-subsidised work that does not count towards the work requirement extends the reference period for the requirement.
Any wage-subsidised work that does not count towards the work requirement extends the reference period for the requirement by its full duration.
How does Kela or the unemployment fund calculate the work requirement for self-employed persons?
If you are self-employed, you fulfil the work requirement if
- you have been self-employed for at least 15 months in a 48-month period before you became unemployed
- you earned at least EUR 15,481 in 2026 and at least EUR 15,128 in 2025 from your work.
The earned income is the sum of the income under the self-employed persons’ (YEL) and farmers’ (MYEL) pension insurance schemes and the income earned under the Employees’ Pensions Act (TyEL) while self-employed.
Self-employment that has continued for at least 4 months counts towards the work requirement.
Any paid employment in the 28 months before your unemployment also counts towards the work requirement for self-employed persons.
Validity of the work requirement
every time.
However, if you are absent from the labour market for more than 6 months without an acceptable reason, you cannot be paid earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäiväraha) until you fulfil the work requirement again.
What counts as an acceptable reason for being absent from the labour market?
For example the following situations count as acceptable reasons for being absent from the labour market:
- illness or rehabilitation
- institutional care
- military or non-military service
- full-time studies
- the birth of a child or caring for a child under the age of 3
- a grant period.