Applying for an earnings-related allowance

Sign up as a job-seeker with the employment authority

Make sure to sign up as a job-seeker no later than on the first day of your unemployment or lay-off. You can only be paid an earnings-related allowance for periods during which you are registered as a job-seeker with the employment authority.

You can sign up via the E-services at Job Market Finland. Starting 1 January 2025, the employment authority will be either your home municipality or the employment area. Contact details for the employment authority in your area can be found on the regional pages of the Job Market Finland website.

The employment authority will give your unemployment fund a labour policy statement about your circumstances, which we will use as the basis for our decision on your eligibility for an earnings-related allowance.

Let your union know about your situation

If you belong to a union, remember to let them know about the change in your circumstances. Being unemployed or laid off may affect your union membership fees.

Submit your earnings-related allowance application

Apply for an earnings-related allowance from your unemployment fund. You can submit your first earnings-related allowance application when approximately two weeks have passed since your employment was terminated or you were laid off. Please note that the earliest that you can submit your application is on the last day of the application period. It is important to fill in your application so that the last day of the application period falls on a Sunday or on the last day of the month.

You can submit your application online via our eService or send the application form and your supporting documents to us by post. You will find the application form under Forms.

Remember to always apply for your earnings-related allowance retrospectively. Use the daily columns in the application form to explain your circumstances, i.e. whether you have been unemployed, laid off, studying or perhaps working part-time or enrolled in a service that promotes employment. Please note that you must submit your earnings-related allowance application within three months of your first day of unemployment.

Going forward, you will need to apply for your earnings-related allowance in periods of either four calendar weeks (Mon–Sun) or a full calendar month.

You can also receive an earnings-related allowance while you work part-time. For instructions on how to apply for an adjusted allowance, see Applying for an adjusted allowance.

Supporting documents

To process your first application, we need certain information about your situation.

Submit the following documents to your unemployment fund

• Notice of termination, lay-off notice or agreement terminating your employment, where applicable.
• Payslip showing the salary paid to you during the application period if you have been laid off with reduced daily working hours.
• Payslip showing your working hours during the application period if you have been laid off with a shorter working week.
• Your latest confirmed personal tax assessment if you are running a business part-time.

You can enclose supporting documents with your application or supply them separately via our eService or by post.

We process applications based on information reported to the Incomes Register.

• We receive your salary information directly from the Incomes Register to determine the amount of your earnings-related allowance.   Sometimes, however, the information reported by your employer to the Incomes Register may not be sufficient. In this case, we will ask you or your employer for additional information regarding your salary.
• We receive your employment relationship information directly from the Incomes Register. You will need to enclose your employment contract with your application if you are working part-time or start working part-time while unemployed or laid off. In any other situations, we will ask you to provide your employment contract if the information in the Incomes Register is not enough.
• We receive information about your wages from part-time work from the Incomes Register, but there are sometimes details missing. If necessary, we will ask you or your employer for additional information regarding your wages. To speed up processing, you can include your payslip with your application.

Employers have five calendar days from each pay day to upload the information to the Incomes Register.

Tax card

As a rule, we receive your tax card information directly from the Tax Administration. It is not absolutely necessary to send your tax card to us. However, if we use the tax card intended for your earned income, the tax deduction is always at least 25%.

If you wish, you can request a revised tax card for a benefit from a Tax Administration office or in the MyTax online service. Indicate how much earnings-related allowance you will receive and the MyTax online service will give you a new, revised tax card for the payment of benefits. Our website has an allowance calculator to help you estimate how much earnings-related allowance you will receive.

If you ask the new tax card to be delivered directly to the unemployment fund, the information will be automatically updated in our system within 1–2 business days. We will use your new tax card from the day it reaches us.