Työttömyysturva

The core statutes for Finnish unemployment security are the Unemployment Security Act (työttömyysturvalaki 1290/2002) and the Act on the Financing of Unemployment Benefits. The system is built in three tiers:

• Basic daily allowance (peruspäiväraha) — Kela. Paid when the work-history requirement is met but you are not a member of an unemployment fund. Flat amount, in 2026 about €38.71/working day.
• Labour-market subsidy (työmarkkinatuki) — Kela. Paid when the work-history requirement is not met or the 400 days of basic allowance are used up. Means-tested; the same amount as basic allowance but can be reduced by a partner's income.
• Earnings-related allowance (ansiopäiväraha) — unemployment fund. Paid to fund members; calculated from prior earnings, substantially higher than the basic allowance.

Buronia helps with the Kela benefits — basic daily allowance and labour-market subsidy. The earnings-related allowance is applied for directly with your unemployment fund.

The single most important rule: no benefit is paid unless you have registered as a jobseeker with the TE Office by your first day of unemployment at the latest. Registration is done online at tyomarkkinatori.fi.

After registration, the TE Office issues an employment-policy statement to Kela confirming that you meet the general conditions for unemployment benefit (unemployed, fit for work, available to the labour market). Without this statement Kela cannot pay the benefit, even if all other conditions are met.

A jobseeker is required to actively look for work — the Nordic labour-policy model that took effect in 2022 typically requires four job applications per month. Failing this leads to a sanction period or loss of benefit.

To receive the basic daily allowance you must meet the work-history requirement: in the previous 28 months you must have at least 26 weeks of paid work with weekly hours of at least 18 and pay in line with the collective agreement.

Once met, the basic allowance can be paid for at most 400 payment days (500 days for those over 58, 300 days for those under 25). The allowance is paid for five working days a week.

If the work-history requirement is not met or the 400-day cap is reached, the benefit changes to the labour-market subsidy, which has no time cap — but a partner's income and your own assets affect its amount.

The labour-market subsidy is means-tested. In practice this means the benefit is reduced or refused because of:

• A partner's income, if it exceeds a threshold
• The income of parents for a young person living at home
• The applicant's other income (part-time work, capital income)

For an adult living in their own household the labour-market subsidy is in practice paid at almost the same level as the basic allowance, unless the partner has substantial income. For a young person living with their parents, however, parental income can reduce the benefit considerably.

If you are long-term unemployed and your labour-market subsidy is small, you should almost always also apply for general housing allowance and, if needed, basic social assistance. These three together form the safety net for an unemployed person.

Receiving an unemployment benefit requires that you meet your obligations as a jobseeker. A sanction or loss of benefit can result from, for example:

• Resigning from a job without an acceptable reason — usually a 90-day sanction.
• Refusing offered work — 90-day sanction.
• Failing to attend TE-Office services — 7-day sanction on first occasion.
• Insufficient job search (fewer than 4 applications/month) — 7-day sanction or partial reduction of the benefit.

If you receive sickness allowance or your employer pays your salary, the unemployment benefit is not paid in parallel. Likewise, if you move on to a pension, the unemployment benefit ends and is replaced by the pension.

A child increase is paid on top of the unemployment benefit for each dependent child under 18. In 2026 the child increase is about €6–10/working day depending on the number of children.

Applicants with families may be eligible for further benefits: child benefit automatically for each child, general housing allowance for housing costs, and if needed basic social assistance as the last resort.

If there is a small child in the family and you are about to be unemployed after parental leave, consider applying for home-care allowance. Unemployment benefit is not paid alongside it, but home-care allowance plus the municipal supplement can in some municipalities total more than the labour-market subsidy.