If you become unemployed

If your application is pending at your unemployment fund, you cannot apply for the general social security benefit from Kela. You must wait until you get a decision from your unemployment fund.

If the decision you get from your unemployment fund is negative because you do not meet the work requirement (työssäoloehto), you can apply for the general social security benefit from Kela. If your unemployment fund’s decision is negative for some other reason, you cannot get the general social security benefit from Kela either. In that case, you may have the right to basic social assistance from Kela.

Example 1

Antti’s full-time employment ends on 31 May. He does not meet the work requirement, so he applies for the general social security benefit from Kela.

Antti’s employer pays him holiday compensation at the end of his employment. The compensation is periodised between 1 and 18 June. This means that Antti’s waiting period starts on 19 June and ends on 29 June.

Kela can start paying general social security benefit to Antti starting from 30 June.

 

Example 2

Outi registers as an unemployed jobseeker on Monday and applies for the general social security benefit from Kela. On Wednesday, Outi gets a part-time job where she works 5 hours a day on every working day.

In the industry Outi works in, the maximum working time is 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day. This means that Outi’s waiting period is 56 working hours because it corresponds to 7 full working days.

For Outi’s first week of work, 25 hours can be counted towards her waiting period because the 15 hours she worked during the week (Wednesday to Friday) are deducted from the maximum of 40 hours.

For Outi’s second and third week of work, 15 hours can be counted towards her waiting period for each week because the 25 hours she worked in each week are deducted from the maximum of 40 hours.

After 3 weeks, Outi has accumulated a total of 55 hours that count towards Outi’s waiting period.

Outi works 5 hours on the Monday of her fourth week of work. As a full working day in her industry is 8 hours, 3 hours count towards her waiting period and that brings the total to 58 hours.

Outi completes her waiting period of 56 hours that corresponds to 7 full working days on that Monday. Kela can start paying Outi the general social security benefit starting from the Tuesday of her fourth week of work.

After you have registered as an unemployed jobseeker, the employment services of your municipality of residence will examine your situation. After that, Kela will get a labour policy statement from the employment services or the KEHA Centre (keha-keskus.fi, In Finnish).

The statement tells Kela whether you are an unemployed jobseeker and if there are any reasons why you should not get unemployment benefits. For example the following reasons may prevent you from getting unemployment benefits:

• you study full time
• you are employed full time with a valid employment contract
• you are self-employed on a full-time basis
• you refuse to accept a full-time job offer.

You cannot get unemployment benefits if the statement shows that there is a reason why you should not be paid unemployment benefits.

The KEHA Centre also checks what you did before you became unemployed. For example, if you stopped working without an acceptable reason, the KEHA Centre can impose a mandatory waiting period (karenssi) on you. This means a period when you cannot get unemployment benefits.

If you are under 25 years old and you do not have a vocational qualification or a higher education degree, the KEHA Centre will also check whether you have applied for at least two places of study.

You can get the general social security benefit (yleistuki) only if you are available for work on the labour market.

Examples of reasons why you cannot get the general social security benefit:

• compulsory military or non-military service
• a prison sentence
• hospital or other institutional care
• other comparable reasons.

If Kela pays you general social security benefit, you must tell Kela immediately if your situation changes.

If the labour policy statement shows that you can be paid unemployment benefits, Kela will check whether you have to complete a qualifying period (odotusaika) of 21 weeks before you can be paid the benefit. The qualifying period will only be checked if you do not have vocational qualifications or a higher education degree (the matriculation examination is not a vocational qualification). The qualifying period applies to jobseekers of all ages.

Contact Kela if you have any questions about the unemployment benefits paid by Kela. You can send a message to us in the OmaKela e-service or you can call one of our customer service number.

Contact employment services if your question is about

• registering as a jobseeker
• the obligation to look for jobs
• a labour policy statement
• the mandatory waiting period (karenssi) for unemployment benefits
• employment-promoting services.

You can find contact information for employment services on the regional pages of Job Market Finland.

If you have questions about unemployment benefits, you can also contact the national unemployment security advice service.

You cannot get unemployment benefits immediately if you have graduated from an upper secondary school (lukio) and you do not meet the the work requirement (you have not worked long enough). It is important that you register as a jobseeker immediately after graduating and that you stay registered as a jobseeker for the whole time you are unemployed.

You must apply for admission to at least two forms of education that

• start in the autumn
• lead to a degree or qualification.

The education programmes you apply to do not have to be included in the joint application period. If you are invited to take an entrance exam, you must participate.

You must also complete a qualifying period (odotusaika) of 21 weeks or about 5 months before you can get unemployment benefits during your unemployment. Only days when you are registered as a jobseeker with the employment services count towards the qualifying period. You can get the general social security benefit after you have completed the qualifying period.

If you live with your parents, their income may affect your general social security benefit.

More information on how parental income affects the general social security benefit.

What happens if you do not apply for admission to a place in education?

The KEHA Centre will impose an obligation to work (työssäolovelvoite) on you if

• you do not apply for admission to education
• you turn down a place of study
• you stop your studies.

An obligation to work means that you cannot get unemployment benefits during your unemployment until you meet one of the following conditions:

• You complete a vocational qualification or a higher education degree.
• You work for 21 calendar weeks in a job that counts towards the work requirement.
• You participate in employment-promoting services for 21 calendar weeks.
• You study on a full-time basis for 21 calendar weeks.
• You are self-employed or work as an independent entrepreneur on a full-time basis for a total of 21 calendar weeks.
• You turn 25 years old.

Even if you do not get unemployment benefits during your unemployment, you can get unemployment benefits for periods when you participate in employment promoting services. You can fulfil your obligation to work by participating in the services. In that case, we will check if you meet the other criteria for the general social security benefit. You may have to wait for 21 weeks before Kela can start paying you general social security benefit.

Have you worked?

You can get earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäiväraha) if you have graduated from upper secondary school, you belong to an unemployment fund (työttömyyskassa) and you meet the work requirement. Register as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment services of your municipality of residence (kotikunta) immediately after you graduate. Earnings-related unemployment allowance is paid after you have completed a waiting period (omavastuuaika). The waiting period is 7 working days from the day when you registered as an unemployed jobseeker.

Read about the benefits young persons can get from Kela.

If you have graduated from an institute of vocational education or an institution of higher education, you can get unemployment benefits after you have completed a waiting period (omavastuuaika) of 7 working days. Register as a jobseeker with the employment services of your municipality of residence (kotikunta) immediately after you have graduated if you do not have a job or if you work part time.

Read more about the work requirement and the unemployment benefits.

Read about the benefits young persons can get from Kela.

If you are under 25 years of age and you do not have vocational qualifications or a higher education degree, you must apply for admission to at least 2 study programmes that begin in the autumn term.

The study programmes can be:

• studies that will lead to a degree and give you vocational qualifications
• upper secondary school studies, if you have only completed comprehensive school
• full-time studies at a folk high school or sports institute.

The study programmes you apply to do not have to be included in the joint application period for education. If you are invited to take an entrance exam, you must participate.

In certain situations, you can agree on the following with the employment services:

• applying to studies other than those mentioned above or that do not start in the autumn term
• doing something else that has been agreed on rather than applying to a study programme.

Contact employment services (tyomarkkinatori.fi) to agree on the details for applying for admission to education.

Read about the studies that you can apply for to meet the application requirement (tyomarkkinatori.fi).

The KEHA Centre will impose an obligation to work (työssäolovelvoite) on you if

• you do not apply for admission to education
• you turn down a place of study
• you stop your studies.

An obligation to work means that you cannot get unemployment benefits during your unemployment until you meet one of the following conditions:

• You complete a vocational qualification or a higher education degree.
• You work for 21 calendar weeks in a job that counts towards the work requirement.
• You participate in employment-promoting services for 21 calendar weeks.
• You study on a full-time basis for 21 calendar weeks.
• You are self-employed or work as an independent entrepreneur on a full-time basis for a total of 21 calendar weeks.
• You turn 25 years old.

Even if you do not get unemployment benefits during your unemployment, you can get unemployment benefits for periods when you participate in employment-promoting services. You can fulfil your obligation to work by participating in the services. In that case, we will check if you meet the other criteria for unemployment benefits. If you do not have an occupation, you may have to complete a qualifying period (odotusaika) of 21 weeks before you can get unemployment benefits.

If you live with your parents, their income may affect your general social security benefit.

More information on how parental income affects the general social security benefit.

Example of completing an obligation of employment

Minna is 20 years old. She graduated from upper secondary school in the spring. She did not apply for admission to at least two education programmes that start in the autumn, so the KEHA Centre imposed an obligation to work on her on 1 September.

Minna agreed on a job try-out with the employment services. Kela paid her general social security benefit during the job try-out even though she would not have qualified for the benefit while unemployed. The job try-out lasted 10 weeks, so Minna has now completed 10 weeks that count towards the obligation to work that is 21 weeks. Next, Minna participates in a rehabilitative work activity that lasts 11 weeks. Kela pays her general social security benefit also during that time.

After that, Minna has fulfilled her 21-week obligation to work. Minna does not have an occupation, so Kela still has to check whether she has to complete a qualifying period of 21 weeks before she can get the general social security benefit.

Read about the benefits young persons can get from Kela.

Compulsory education continues until you reach the age of 18 years.

You can get general social security benefit if you are 17 and you already have a vocational qualification. You cannot get earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäiväraha) because work you do before you turn 18 does not count towards the work requirement.

If you are 17 and you have graduated from upper secondary school, you can get general social security benefit only if you participate in employment-promoting services.

Persons under 17 cannot get the general social security benefit or earnings-related unemployment allowance in any circumstances.

Read about the benefits young persons can get from Kela.

You may qualify for the general social security benefit if you stop your self-employment. Employment services will examine your situation and issue a statement on it to Kela.

If you are 55 or older and you have been laid off, you may have the right to transition security (muutosturva).