Earnings-related unemployment allowance or basic unemployment allowance? Unemployed persons can apply for benefits from their unemployment fund or Kela

If you become unemployed, you are laid off or you are self-employed but have no work, register as an unemployed jobseeker with TE Services immediately. After that, you can receive unemployment benefits from Kela or your unemployment fund.

Four facts about unemployment benefits

1. First, register as an unemployed jobseeker with TE Services. You must register before you can be paid benefits. TE Services will give Kela and the unemployment fund a statement about whether you are eligible for unemployment benefits.
    
2. If you are a member of an unemployment fund, for example as part of a trade union membership, apply to your fund for earnings-related unemployment allowance. “Earnings-related” means that the amount of the allowance depends on your pre-unemployment salary, among other factors. Follow the instructions of your unemployment fund when applying for unemployment benefits.
    
3. If you are not entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance, apply to Kela for unemployment benefits. Kela can pay you basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy, both of which are equal to EUR 37.21 per day. We recommend that you send applications and supporting documentation in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish). Online you can also see if any supporting documents are missing or if the application must be supplemented in some other way.
    
4. If you have an additional need for social assistance, register as an unemployed jobseeker with TE Services first and apply for unemployment benefits and, if necessary, general housing allowance. Basic social assistance is a last-resort form of assistance.

PS Our chatbot Kela-Kelpo helps customers with unemployment-related matters on the Unemployment pages. Customers can ask the chatbot questions such as what supporting documents are needed for an application.