Terms and duration

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Payment of earnings-related allowance requires that

  • you are seeking full-time employment and have registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment authorities
  • you are a member of an unemployment fund and have met the 12-month employment condition during your membership in the fund.

If you become unemployed or have your working hours reduced, you should immediately register as an unemployed job-seeker via the employment official’s online service. You will be registered immediately. It is not, however, possible to have this registration applied retrospectively to, for example, the previous day. Earnings-related allowance may be paid only for the period in which the registration is valid.

If you are not a member of an unemployment fund or have been employed for a long enough time, you should apply for unemployment support from Kela.

The employment condition can be met within a year

Payment of earnings-related allowance requires meeting the employment condition. The length of the employment condition is 12 months.

  • You accrue one month toward the employment condition if you have earned at least €930 in a calendar month.
  • You accrue half a month toward the employment condition if you have earned at least €465 in a calendar month.

Therefore, entitlement to earnings-related allowance can, for example, be established with a work history consisting of 10 full months and 4 half months. To accrue entitlement to earnings-related allowance, you must be a member of an unemployment fund during the period of employment.

The work does not have to be continuous. Pay months within the last 2 years and 4 months can be counted. If, for example, you have been studying, ill, in military or non-military service, on job alternation leave, on a grant period, or caring for a child under the age of 3, the pay months can be counted from a longer period. In the longest case, months can be counted from the last 9 years and 4 months.

For the accrual of daily allowance entitlement, what usually matters is when the wages were paid. The period of earning (the time when the work corresponding to the wages was performed) is relevant, for example, in the case of bonuses.

Salary / calendar month * The period accrues towards the earnings-related employment requirement
At least 930 € a month
465 € – 930 € 1/2 month
Under 465 € No accrual

 

The 12-Month Work Requirement and the Impact of the Law Amendment

The conditions for receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance changed on September 2, 2024. The biggest change concerns the work history required to receive the allowance. Until September 1, 2024, earnings-related allowance could be granted after six months of work. Starting in September, one year of work is required. During the working period, you must be a member of an unemployment fund.

More information: New terms for earnings-related unemployment benefit

Obligations

You may forfeit your rights to received earnings-related allowance (temporarily or permanently) if you do not maintain your status as a job-seeker with the employment official or comply with their instructions. This means, for example, keeping your employment plan up-to-date, attending any necessary appointments and meetings, and participating in the various services arranged by the employment official. For more information on your obligations relating to the employment official, please visit the employment official’s online service.

If you are out of the labour market (i.e. you are not employed or registered as a job-seeker with the employment official) for more than six months without an acceptable reason, the requirement relating to 26 working weeks mentioned above will expire. This means that you can only receive the daily allowance once you have been in work again for a period of 26 weeks. Acceptable causes include, for example, studies, military service, civil service, illness, or caring for a child under 3 years old.

Calculate your earnings-related daily allowance

Monthly salary

Business activity may affect your right to a daily allowance

If you have a business, the employment official will investigate how extensive your business activities are and decide whether they are sufficient enough to prevent the payment of the earnings-related allowance. Small-scale or so-called ancillary business activity does not prevent payment of a daily allowance. For example, ancillary business activity can be demonstrated through it having been done alongside a full-time job for at least 6 months. More information about this is available here.

Students receive daily allowance after graduating

If you are studying, for example, at a vocational college or university, you are only eligible to receive an earnings-related allowance after your graduation. As soon as you become unemployment, register as a job-seeker via the employment official’s online service. More information about this is available here.

How long will the earnings-related allowance be paid?

The duration of earnings-related allowance payments depends on the length of your work history and your age.

  • If your work history is 3 years or less, the earnings-related allowance is paid for 300 days.

  • If your work history is more than 3 years, the earnings-related allowance is paid for 400 days.

  • If you are 58 years old and have 5 years of work history during the past 20 years, the earnings-related allowance is paid for 500 days.

Unemployment allowance is paid to fully unemployed individuals for five days per week. Therefore, the maximum duration of 300 days will be exhausted in approximately 60 weeks (around 14 months), 400 days in 80 weeks (around 18 months), and 500 days in 100 weeks (around 23 months).

If you do freelance or part-time work, the maximum period is used up more slowly. You can also reset the maximum period of unemployment allowance by working. A 12-month period of work will restart the maximum period from the beginning.

If you remain unemployed for more than the maximum duration, you can claim unemployment benefits from Kela. More information on unemployment benefits is available on Kela’s website.

Extra days for the elderly

Earnings-related allowance may continue to be paid after the maximum payment period until the age of 65 in so-called additional days if:

  • You were born between 1957 and 1960 and your 61st birthday came before the end of the maximum payment period OR
  • You were born in 1961-1962, and your 62nd birthday comes before the end of the maximum payment period OR
  • You were born in 1963 and your 63nd birthday comes before the end of the maximum payment period OR
  • You were born in 1964 and your 64nd birthday comes before the end of the maximum payment period.

You are also required to have worked for at least 5 years in the last 20 years and the right to the daily allowance has been received as a salaried employee.