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 the employment services of your municipality of residence immediately. After that, you can receive unemployment benefits from Kela or your unemployment fund.
Four facts about unemployment benefits
- You can get unemployment benefits only if you are registered as an unemployed jobseeker. This is why your first step should be to register with the employment services in your municipality (Job Market Finland).
After you have registered, the employment services and the KEHA Centre will submit a statement on whether you have the right to unemployment benefits to Kela or an unemployment fund.
- If you are a member of an unemployment fund, for example as part of a trade union membership, submit an application for earnings-related unemployment allowance to your unemployment fund.
The term ‘earnings-related’ means that the amount of unemployment benefits you can get depends on your pre-unemployment salary, among other factors. Follow the instructions of your unemployment fund when applying for unemployment benefits.
- If you do not have the right to earnings-related unemployment allowance, submit your application for unemployment benefits to Kela. Kela can pay basic unemployment allowance and labour market subsidy for the duration of your unemployment.
We recommend that you send your application and supporting documents in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish). You can also use OmaKela to check if any supporting documents are missing or if your application should be supplemented in some other way.
If you also need social assistance, you must first register as an unemployed jobseeker on Job Market Finland and apply for unemployment benefits and, if necessary, general housing allowance.
Social assistance is paid out as a last resort. It is affected by all the income and assets available to you.
PS Our chatbot Kela-Kelpo helps customers with unemployment-related matters on the Unemployment pages in Finnish or Swedish. Customers can ask the chatbot questions such as what supporting documents are needed for an application.