How does my age affect my earnings-related daily allowance?

There are several exceptions related to earnings-related daily allowance that mainly apply to persons aged 58 and over. Some exceptions have already been removed from the unemployment security law, but they are still applied in certain situations.

The possibility to reset days in an employment-promoting service war removed from the law

If you are at least 60 years old, full calendar weeks during which you have participated in an employment-promoting service organized based on an obligation set by the employment officials can be counted towards the employment condition. This possibility was removed from the law as of September 2, 2024. You can still accumulate the employment condition during the service if the employment obligation was established no later than September 1, 2024. The length of the employment condition in this case is 6 months. 

Maximum earnings-related daily allowance payment period

Earnings-related daily allowance can be paid for a maximum of 500 days, instead of the usual 400 days, if you are at least 58 years of age when you meet the working condition and have been employed at least five years in the 20 years prior to meeting the working condition. 

Additional days – unemployment path to retirement  

The payment of earnings-related daily allowance may be extended beyond the maximum payment period once you reach a certain age. The days by which the payment of earnings-related daily allowance is extend beyond the maximum period are called additional days. The right to additional days is being phased out, but the right to additional days is still as follows:

If you were born between 1961 and 1962 you may be entitled to additional days if you turned 62 years of age before reaching the maximum daily allowance payment period. 

If you were born in 1963 you may be entitled to additional days if you turned 63 years of age before reaching the maximum daily allowance payment period. 

If you were born in 1964 you may be entitled to additional days if you turned 64 years of age before reaching the maximum daily allowance payment period.

Additionally, you must have had pension-insured work for at least five years in the last 20 years counted backwards from the maximum period to receive additional days. We can pay earnings-related unemployment allowance until the age of 65. Transitioning to additional days does not require any action from you, as the unemployment fund will automatically check the right to additional days when you apply for the allowance and the maximum period is reached. If you do not have the right to additional days, you will receive a negative decision. We can pay you earnings-related daily allowance up to the age of 65. 

If you were born in 1965 or after, you are not entitled to additional days. 

Additional days are not reset, and the amount of daily allowance is not reduced 

Your maximum earnings-related daily allowance period will not be reset if you are already using additional days (unemployment path to retirement). This means that the maximum payment period is not reset, and the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated, even if you perform work that meets the working condition for 12 months after the payment of additional days has started.

Additional days mean that you have received earnings-related unemployment allowance for the maximum period (400 or 500 days) and start receiving additional days. If the payment of additional days has already started, but you become employed afterwards and meet the 12-month employment condition, the days of earnings-related unemployment allowance will no longer be reset after the job ends. The level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance will also not be recalculated, even if it increases compared to the previous level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance. The level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is thus ‘locked’ at the stage when the first additional day is paid. The level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance remaining the same throughout the payment of additional days also means that if the earnings-related unemployment allowance has been paid at a reduced rate (staggered) when moving to additional days, the level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance will remain the same throughout the payment of additional days. Therefore, the level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance can no longer be restored to 100 percent after the payment of additional days has started. In practice, this will happen to everyone who is subject to the 12-month employment condition.

Reduction (staggering) of the unemployment allowance and additional days

The reduction, or staggering, of the earnings-related unemployment allowance applies to all jobseekers who are subject to the 12-month employment condition. The full earnings-related unemployment allowance is reduced by 20 % after 40 payment days. When payments have continued for a total of 170 payment days (about 8 months), the earnings-related unemployment allowance is reduced by 25 % from the original amount. The earnings-related unemployment allowance is then paid at a 25 % reduced rate for as long as you are entitled to receive the earnings-related unemployment allowance. If you are entitled to additional days after the maximum period has been reached, the earnings-related unemployment allowance is paid at a 25 % reduced rate also during the payment of additional days. The level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance can no longer be restored to 100 % after the payment of additional days has started. The earnings-related unemployment allowance will not return to the 100 % level even if you become employed during the additional days and meet the employment condition again.

The staggering came into effect on September 2, 2024, so it does not apply, for example, to those who have already received the earnings-related unemployment allowance before September 2, 2024, and the payment of additional days begins directly after the maximum period has been paid.

Example: The payment of the earnings-related unemployment allowance started on April 1, 2024. Due to your age and work history, you are entitled to additional days of the earnings-related unemployment allowance when the maximum period is reached. If you receive the earnings-related unemployment allowance for the maximum period and the payment of additional days begins, the earnings-related unemployment allowance is paid in full for the entire duration of the additional days. The staggering does not apply to you because the payment of the earnings-related unemployment allowance started before September 2, 2024.

If you are not yet on additional days

If you are entitled to additional days but become employed and meet the 12-month employment condition before the payment of additional days begins, you are subject to the reduction (staggering).

Example: The payment of the earnings-related unemployment allowance started on April 1, 2023. Due to your age and work history, you are entitled to additional days of the earnings-related unemployment allowance when the maximum period is reached. However, you start a job on October 1, 2024, before the payment of additional days begins. The employment lasts until September 30, 2025. You have met the 12-month employment condition, so the maximum period of the earnings-related unemployment allowance starts over, and a waiting period is set. You are also subject to the reduction. The earnings-related unemployment allowance is reduced by 20 % after 40 payment days. When the earnings-related unemployment allowance has been paid for 130 days since the previous reduction and a total of 170 days since the payment of the earnings-related unemployment allowance started, the allowance is reduced by 25 % from the original amount. The payment of the earnings-related unemployment allowance continues at a 25 % reduced rate from the original level. If you do not become employed again and move to additional days, the earnings-related unemployment allowance is paid at a reduced rate until the entitlement to additional days ends.

If you are not yet entitled to additional days

If access to additional days requires you to become employed at least once and meet the 12-month employment condition, the level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is recalculated based on the job from which you met the employment condition, and you are subject to the reduction (staggering). The earnings-related unemployment allowance has an 80 % protection if the employment condition is met before the maximum period of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is reached.

Example: The payment of the earnings-related unemployment allowance started on April 1, 2023. You are not yet entitled to additional days of the earnings-related unemployment allowance. To access additional days, you must become employed once and meet the employment condition, so the maximum period counter is reset and starts over. You work for 12 months and meet the employment condition, after which the maximum period of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is reset, and the level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is recalculated. The days of the earnings-related unemployment allowance, age, and work history now qualify you for additional days, but you are also subject to the reduction (staggering).

Exceptions that allow the payment of earnings-related daily allowance to a person over the age of 65

As a general rule, earnings-related daily allowance can be paid until the end of the month in which you turn 65. As an exception, earnings-related daily allowance may be paid after you have reached the age of 65 if you have been laid off or have been prevented from working due to weather conditions or collective action. The payment of daily allowance ends when you reach the age of 68 at the latest. Please note that if you receive old-age pension you cannot receive earnings-related daily allowance, even if you are laid off or have been prevented from working due to weather conditions or collective action. 

Applying for old-age pension 

You can apply for old-age pension using the online services of your employment pension institution. If you are not certain about your pension provider, you can find out by visiting the website Tyoelake.fi. Contact your pension provider if you have any questions regarding matters such as your pension record, future pension or applying for pension.

If your own pension provider does not have an electronic application service available, you can use a paper form or form 7001 which can be filled in online and printed.

When you know the date your old-age pension begins, please inform the member service. The email address is jasenasiat@proliitto.fi.

Partial early old-age pension

If you receive partial early old-age pension during unemployment or lay-off, it will not be deducted from your earnings-related daily allowance and you will receive your earnings-related daily allowance in full.

If you have been working part-time due to partial early old-age pension and you become unemployed or laid off, the rate of your earnings-related daily allowance is calculated based on your part-time pay. Periods of partial early old-age pension cannot be skipped over when calculating the rate of earnings-related daily allowance. 

Impact of employment obligation on the level of earnings-related unemployment allowance

If you have been employed based on the employment obligation, the earnings-related unemployment allowance will not be recalculated if your monthly salary is not bigger comparing to your previous salary from which the unemployment allowance has been calvulated. The employment obligation was removed from the law on September 2, 2024, but it still applied to those jobseekers who had reached the maximum period of the allowance before September 2, 2024, and were at least 57 years old when the maximum period was reached. The length of the employment condition for those employed based on the obligation is six months.

Protection of the level of earnings-related unemployment allowance for those aged 58 and over removed

The level of the unemployment allowance for jobseekers aged at least 58 was not recalculated unless it had increased compared to the previous level. This exception was removed from the law. Therefore, the level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is always recalculated when the employment condition is met (with the exception of employment arranged based on the employment obligation mentioned above). However, the full earnings-related unemployment allowance is at least 80 % of the previous full earnings-related unemployment allowance if the employment condition is met before the maximum period of the allowance is reached.

Partial early old-age pension

If you receive a partial early old-age pension during unemployment or layoff, it is not deducted from the earnings-related unemployment allowance, and you will receive the full earnings-related unemployment allowance.

If you have been working part-time due to the partial early old-age pension and become unemployed or laid off, the earnings-related unemployment allowance is determined based on the part-time salary. The period of partial early old-age pension is not skipped over when calculating the level of the earnings-related unemployment allowance. Additionally, it is important to note that you must be in employment that meets the employment condition alongside the pension to retain the right to the earnings-related unemployment allowance in case of potential unemployment or layoff. This is because you need to be in the labour market to maintain the right to the earnings-related unemployment allowance. Being in the labour market is considered the time during which you are in employment that meets the employment condition.

Old-age pension and supplementary pension 

Old-age pension based on years of service

You cannot receive earnings-related daily allowance if you receive old-age pension based on full years of service. You are not entitled to earnings-related daily allowance even if you have continued to work while on old-age pension and you become laid off. Old-age pension is a benefit that prevents the payment of earnings-related daily allowance (as well as basic unemployment allowance and labour market subsidy). 

Please note that a retirement pension paid abroad may also prevent the payment of a daily allowance. For example, an old-age pension paid from Sweden is a preventive benefit if it is paid at 100 %.

Supplementary pension financed by you or your employer

Supplementary pension financed by your employer is deducted in full from your earnings-related daily allowance. This means that while on the pension you accumulate days towards the maximum period of daily allowance in the same way you would when fully unemployed, i.e. each day for which the benefit is paid counts towards the maximum period.

If you have financed your supplementary pension yourself, the pension does not affect your earnings-related daily allowance in any way, even if you receive the pension during unemployment. If you receive a supplementary pension temporarily, you must be an unemployed job seeker to retain the right to the earnings-related unemployment allowance after the supplementary pension ends. The period of receiving the supplementary pension is not an acceptable reason to be absent from the labor market.