Amount of the Earnings-Related Allowance
- The amount of the earnings-related allowance is calculated based on your salary before unemployment. Salaries from the period during which you fulfilled the employment condition are taken into account.
- Holiday pay and holiday compensation are not included in the salary used as the basis for the allowance.
- You can estimate the amount of your earnings-related allowance using the calculator on the website of Työttömyyskassojen yhteisjärjestö TYJ (the Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland). The calculator also takes the step-down levels into account.
Step-down of the allowance
The earnings-related unemployment benefit is gradually reduced over time.
This means that the amount of the daily allowance decreases as follows:
- To 80% of the full allowance after eight weeks of unemployment (i.e., after 40 benefit days)
- To 75% of the full allowance after 34 weeks of unemployment (i.e., after 170 benefit days)
- If you receive an adjusted allowance (for example, while working part-time), the benefit days accumulate more slowly in the step-down calculation.
Who does the step-down apply to?
- The step-down applies to employees whose daily allowance has been determined on or after 2 September 2024, based on the 12-month employment condition. Therefore, if you are already receiving the allowance, you will fall under the step-down rules once your employment condition is recalculated using the 12-month requirement.
- The reduction in the amount of the earnings-related allowance applies to both employees and entrepreneurs.
- The step-down applies to all recipients of the allowance, regardless of whether it is paid in full, adjusted, or reduced due to another social benefit. It also applies to the additional days of the earnings-related allowance.
- You can find clear examples based on the 2024 benefit levels on the website Työttömyyskassojen yhteisjärjestö TYJ.