Unemployment benefit

Through Loimu, the members – also student members – can join the Unemployment Fund for Higher Educated Employees Erko

Through Loimu, the members – also student members – can join the Unemployment Fund for Higher Educated Employees Erko As an unemployment fund member, you are entitled to earnings-related unemployment benefit when you are laid off or unemployed if the membership condition and work requirement are fulfilled.

The unemployment fund decides on the granting of the earnings-related unemployment benefit. If you are not entitled to the earnings-related unemployment benefit, you can apply for basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy from Kela.

The earnings-related unemployment benefit is based on your earnings, which means that it is considerably higher than benefits granted by Kela.

Joining the unemployment fund

You have to join the unemployment fund separately. You can join the unemployment fund only when you are currently employed.

You can join the unemployment fund when joining Loimu, in the unemployment fund membership section in the membership form.
If you are already Loimu’s member and want to join the unemployment fund, submit a notification to our Member Services to jasenasiat@loimu.fi. The notification must state the start date of employment and the name of your employer.
The unemployment fund membership begins on the joining date, at the earliest. The joining notification can also be submitted in advance if the end date of the employment is known. It is not possible to join the fund retrospectively.

You can join the unemployment fund when you are currently employed.

When will I start receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance?

You are an unemployed job seeker.
You have been a member of the unemployment fund for at least six months (membership condition)
You have worked at least 26 weeks during your membership and the reference period (28 months) (work requirement)

If a person is absent from the labour market without an acceptable reason for more than six months, the work requirement must be fulfilled during the membership period again after the absence.

Fulfilling the work requirement

You meet the work requirement if you have worked at least 26 calendar weeks during the reference period. Each calendar week with at least 18 working hours (one or several employers) and with a salary for full-time work pursuant to the collective agreement or, if there is no collective agreement in the field, at least EUR 1,236 is considered to be included in the work requirement in 2020. For example, teaching is an exception to this, since all weeks with at least eight hours of working can be included in the work requirement. All work is included in the work requirement, which means that the work does not need to be in your own field.

The reference period of the work requirement is the 28 months preceding the unemployment period, but it can be extended, for example, due to home-care of a child under the age of three, illness, full-time studying, working on a grant or other similar reasons. In practice, the extension of the reference period means that absence from the labour market caused by the aforementioned reasons can be skipped and the reference period can be extended to the period before the absence. Staying abroad or housekeeping, for example, are not acceptable reasons. The reference period can be extended by a maximum of seven years.

The unemployment fund decides on the granting of the earnings-related unemployment benefit. There are exceptions to the earnings-related unemployment benefit conditions, so please check the precise, up-to-date information either from Erko’s website or the website of the Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland TYJ.

Unemployment Fund for Higher Educated Employees Erko

Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland TYJ

You have to fulfill the membership and work requirement in order to receive earnings-related unemployment benefit

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