If you become unemployed

If you become unemployed, register immediately as a jobseeker in the Job Market Finland online service or in the Employment Services of your municipality (kuntasi työllisyyspalvelut). Also register if you are temporarily laid off, your training ends or your pay-subsidised job ends.

You can only receive unemployment benefit (työttömyystuki) if you have registered as a jobseeker and your status as a jobseeker is active.

You may be entitled to unemployment benefit if you live in Finland permanently and are covered by Finnish social security.  Even if you do not live permanently in Finland or are not entitled to Finnish social security, you may be entitled to basic unemployment allowance (peruspäiväraha) or earnings-related daily allowance (ansiopäiväraha). Read more about this on the InfoFinland page Finnish social security.

The way you register depends on your country of citizenship.

If you are a citizen of Finland, an EU or EEA country, Liechtenstein or Switzerland

You can register as a jobseeker online in the E-services section of Job Market Finland. Log in using Finnish online banking credentials, Mobile ID or an identity card with a chip. If you do not have any of these or for some other reason cannot log in to the service, register as a jobseeker at the Employment Services office of your municipality.

If you are a citizen of another country

If you are a citizen of a country other than a Nordic country, an EU country, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, register as a jobseeker at the Employment Services office of your municipality. You can find the contact information on the website of your municipality or on the regional website of Job Market Finland.

First visit to the office

When you visit the Employment Services office of your municipality for the first time, please bring along

• a valid identity card or passport
• a residence permit or certificate of registration of an EU citizen’s right of residence
• a document that shows that you have a Finnish personal identity code (for example, a Kela card or a Population Register extract from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency)
• work and school certificates translated into Finnish, Swedish or English.

If the police have temporarily taken your passport, please bring along a certificate of this. If you are a citizen of the United Kingdom and have applied for a right of residence under the withdrawal agreement, bring along a certificate of this.

More information on registering as a jobseeker is available on the website of Job Market Finland and your municipality of residence.

Once you have registered as a jobseeker, Employment Services will review the information you have provided and issue a  labour policy statement (työvoimapoliittinen lausunto) on your situation. This may take some time. Employment Services will deliver the labour policy statement to the unemployment fund (työttömyyskassa) or Kela. The unemployment fund or Kela cannot make a decision on your unemployment benefit without a labour policy statement. The unemployment fund or Kela will take this statement into account when deciding whether you are entitled to unemployment benefit. At the same time, the unemployment fund or Kela assesses whether the other conditions for receiving unemployment benefit are met.

Apply for unemployment benefit from the unemployment fund or Kela after you have been unemployed for least two weeks. If you belong to an unemployment fund, apply for earnings-related daily allowance from the fund. If you do not belong to an unemployment fund, apply for basic unemployment allowance (peruspäiväraha) or labour market subsidy (työmarkkinatuki) from Kela. Read more about different unemployment benefits on the InfoFinland page Unemployment benefit.

You can receive advice on matters relating to unemployment benefit from the Employment Services of your municipality. You can find the contact information on Job Market Finland’s regional website.

You can also call Job Market Finland’s telephone service for unemployment security advice (työttömyysturvaneuvonta). The advisory service is nationwide and it is available in different languages Mon–Fri from 9.00 to 15.00.

• In Finnish, Swedish and English: 0295 020 701
• In Russian: 0295 025 505

If you apply for or receive unemployment benefit, you must actively seek full-time work, participate in services and measures that promote your employment, and act as agreed in the employment plan. You can think about what kind of work you would like to do, whether you need continuing education or whether you want to change your profession. Explore the options for employment, entrepreneurship and education in your area. 

You can find information about job opportunities in Finland on the pages Find a job in Finland, Tips for job hunting and Starting a business in Finland.

The Employment Services of your municipality will guide you in your job search. They will also provide you with information on job vacancies, training and services for jobseekers.

Suitable services may include:

• integration training,
• job search or career coaching or
• work try-out.

Read more about the integration training on the InfoFinland page Integration into Finland. 

Ohjaamo 

If you are under 30 years of age, you can get information on work, training and other everyday matters in Ohjaamo.

Starting work or studies

When you are an unemployed jobseeker, you can, under some circumstances, study and receive unemployment benefit at the same time. You can participate in, for example, vocational labour market training and short-term or self-motivated studies. In vocational labour market training, you can complete a vocational upper secondary qualification, further vocational qualification or specialist vocational qualification, or one or more modules of these qualifications. However, you must make an agreement with your designated expert regarding your studies before starting them.

If you start working or studying while you are unemployed, please notify the Employment Services of your municipality. They will advise you on how the studies can affect your unemployment benefit.

Read more on the InfoFinland page Vocational labour market training.

Holidays

If you travel in Finland or abroad, make sure you can be reached at all times. Give the Employment Services of your municipality your contact details, such as your phone number and address.

If you are offered a job or services, you cannot turn them down because of a trip abroad.

Entrepreneurship

If you are interested in starting a business, you can get various services from the Employment Services of your municipality. These services include, for example, Start-up grant (starttiraha) and entrepreneurial training. Contact the employment services’ experts before you start a business.

If you start business activities while you are unemployed jobseeker, you may receive unemployment benefit for the first four months after starting business operations.

Read more about matters relating to entrepreneurship on the InfoFinland page Starting a business in Finland.

You may lose your right to unemployment benefit for a fixed period if your unemployment is due to or prolonged by a self-inflicted reason. You may be imposed a qualifying period, during which you will not receive the benefit, for example, if:

• you do not apply for work in the way agreed in your employment plan
• you do not apply for a job offered to you by the Employment Services of your municipality
• you do not accept a job that is offered to you
• you resign from you work yourself without a solid reason.
• you refuse a service offered to you without a valid reason.

The qualifying period length varies from 7 to 45 days. The duration depends on the reason for the qualifying period and whether you have previously engaged in conduct warranting one. In some cases, you may lose your right to unemployment benefit entirely for the time being if you fail to comply with the rules laid down in the Act on Unemployment Security (työttömyysturvalaki).