Unemployment

If you loose your job and you live in Finland permanently

1. Register as an unemployed jobseeker at the Employment and Economic Development Office by no later than your very first day of unemployment. You can also register in Finnish online at www.te-palvelut.fi or use the registration form and e-mail it to kirjaamo.lappi@te-toimisto.fi. You find the registration form here.
2. Check your eligibility for various benefits from Kela or your unemployment fund in case you need them. Kela pays labour market subsidy and basic daily allowance. The unemployment fund pays earnings-related daily allowance.
3. Claim unemployment benefit by filling in the application for Kela (or unemployment fund, if you are a member through trade union or otherwise) and ask your previous employer a written certificate of employment and certificate of earnings.
4. The decision on your benefit will be sent to your home.
5. Seek for job and other solutions actively.
6. Notify about any possible changes in your situation or income to Te-services.

Jobseek

If you are a citizen of EU or EEA member states, you are qualified to register as a jobseeker with TE-Services. To register you need either online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a smart ID card. Alternatively, you may use the registration form and e-mail it to kirjaamo.lappi@te-toimisto.fi. You find the registration form here.

You can reach TE-services by phone on weekdays from 9am to 4.15pm: +358 295 020713.

More information is available on the TE-Services website

You have a duty to seek work actively while you are unemployed. You must also accept any job or training that is offered to you, and you may lose your benefit if you turn down such an offer for no good reason.

• your local Employment and Economic Development Office (TE office)
• friends and relations
• job advertisements in newspapers and online
• online employment services
• social media
• business websites

Finding a job often involves submitting a formal application. Prepare a separate application for each job and consider what kind of application would be suited to each workplace. A job application will often need to include attachments. The most important of these is your CV, which explains what you can do, what schools you have attended, and what jobs you have done.

Unemployment benefits

If you have a Finnish municipality of residence, you may qualify for unemployment benefits. You may also be eligible for support if you are temporarily laid of. One condition of receiving unemployment benefit is that your residence permit in Finland is not temporary. Other conditions also apply. If you lose your job, contact the TE-services immediately to ask about your right to unemployment benefits.

For unemployed jobseekers, basic income is secured through unemployment allowance or labor market subsidy. There are two types of unemployment allowance: basic unemployment allowance and earnings-related unemployment allowance.

• Basic unemployment allowance is granted by the Social Insurance Institution (Kela)
• Earnings-related unemployment allowance is granted by an unemployment fund.

To receive earnings related unemployment allowance the unemployed must be a member of an unemployment fund. If you live in Finland permanently and work as an employee, it is advisable to join an unemployment fund, because your unemployment benefits are better than provided by the basic unemployment allowance. Most funds are closely related to trade unions, but there are also independent unemployment funds like YTK. Annual membership fee for YTK is 119€ (for 2021).

Further details of unemployment benefit are available on the Kela website.

Various unemployment benefits:

1. Earnings-related daily allowance

• Paid by an unemployment fund.
• Lasting for no longer than 300 or 400 days.
• More generous than other unemployment benefits.

2. Basic daily allowance

• Paid by Kela.
• Lasting for no longer than 300 or 400 days.
• The amounts of basic daily allowance and labor market subsidy are the same

3. Labor market subsidy

• Paid by Kela.
• No limit to the duration of entitlement.
• May be reduced according to the incomes of other household members

Income while unemployed

If you earn any income while unemployed, then remember to declare this to Kela or to the unemployment fund. Your unemployment benefit will then be adjusted to account for your earnings, meaning that you will receive less in benefit. Every euro that you earn will reduce your benefit by 50 cents, but you may earn up to EUR 300 per month without losing any benefit at all.

Other benefits

Your income may comprise several forms of benefit, so you should investigate what other Kela benefits you can claim. For example, you may be eligible for general housing allowance (asumistuki) or general income support (yleinen toimeentulotuki).

Contact Kela's customer service to ask about these other benefits.