Statistical Yearbook on Unemployment Protection in Finland 2024
1 Information about the publication
The Statistical Yearbook on Unemployment Protection in Finland 2024 presents key data on the earnings-related unemployment benefits paid by unemployment funds and the basic unemployment benefits provided by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). It contains statistical information about unemployment benefit recipients, expenditures and payment durations.
The Yearbook is a collaboration between the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Social Insurance Institution. The statistics on the unemployment benefits provided by unemployment funds are compiled by the Financial Supervisory Authority, while the statistics on Kela-provided benefits are produced by Kela.
The monetary values presented in the tables and referenced in the text of the publication are denoted in the current currency of each year, unless otherwise stated. All monetary values presented in each chart have been converted to the value of the currency in the most recent year presented in the graph. The conversion factor is based on the cost-of-living index.
Statistical Yearbook on Unemployment Protection in Finland 2024
ISSN 1796-0479 = Finlands officiella statistik
ISSN 1795-5467 = Statistical Yearbook on Unemployment Protection in Finland
Keywords: statistics (data), unemployment security, daily unemployment allowances, unemployment benefit societies, labour market subsidy
Permanent address of the publication: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20251006100114
Statisticians:
Kela: Tuomas Sarparanta and Markus Valle
Financial Supervisory Authority: Dmitri Matjushin
firstname.lastname@finanssivalvonta.fi
Helsinki, Kela, 2025
The Yearbook is published annually. The previous editions are available in Helda.
The Yearbook is being published as part of the Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) series and complies with the quality criteria established for the OSF. Links to an overview of the underlying statistics (Unemployment protection in Finland) as well as quality descriptions and an overview of the benefits and the concepts used are found on the web page for the statistics.
Extended time series and data behind the charts included in the Yearbook are available on the Kela statistics in charts page.
Statistics on unemployment benefits are also published in the Kela Statistical Yearbook and monthly in the Statistical Database Kelasto and the monthly statistics on unemployment benefits in Finland (in Finnish).
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To prevent the indirect identification of individuals in cases where the number of recipients in any given municipality is fewer than four, the number of recipients and their related indicators are replaced with two dashes in the tables included in Kela’s statistical publications.
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More information on how Kela processes personal data is available on the page Data protection and processing of personal data at Kela (kela.fi).
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2 Key figures
EUR 4,000 million
Total expenditure on unemployment benefits
EUR 1,912 million
Expenditure on basic unemployment benefits paid by Kela
334,068
Recipients of unemployment benefits at year-end
122,512
Recipients of earnings-related unemployment allowance at year-end
33,760
Recipients of basic unemployment allowance at year-end
176,133
Recipients of labour market subsidy at year-end
3 Overview of unemployment protection in Finland
Two systems pay out unemployment benefits: Unemployment funds pay their members earnings-related allowances, while non-members can get a basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy from Kela.
Unemployment allowance and labour market subsidy are payable not only during unemployment but also during participation in employment-promoting services.
Also included in this publication under unemployment benefits are the commuting and relocation allowance, the job alternation compensation and the transition security allowance.
3.1 Summary of the statistical year 2024
Expenditure on unemployment benefits amounted to EUR 4,000 million in 2024. Unemployment funds accounted for a total of EUR 2,088 million (earnings-related benefits) and Kela for EUR 1,912 million (basic unemployment benefits) of this total. The expenditure increased by 5% compared to 2023. The expenditure on earnings-related benefits grew by 10.6%, while the expenditure on basic unemployment benefits decreased by 1.0%.
At the end of 2024, the total number of recipients of unemployment benefits was 334,068, which represented 9.9% of the Finnish population between ages 17 and 64 at that point in time. Altogether 122,512 recipients received earnings-related unemployment allowance, which marks a decrease of 6,636 recipients compared to the previous year. At the end of 2024, the recipients of basic unemployment allowance numbered 33,760. The number of recipients decreased by 1,453 from the previous year. At year-end 2024, the number of recipients of the labour market subsidy totalled 176,133, which marks an increase of 14,542 recipients compared to the previous year.
The year 2024 saw the implementation of several legislative changes that affected unemployment benefits. For example, the monthly exempt amount of EUR 300 that applied to unemployment benefits as well as the child increase previously available for the labour market subsidy, basic unemployment allowance and the commuting and relocation allowance were removed as of 1 April 2024.
In addition, job alternation leave was abolished as of 1 August 2024, which meant that the last day to begin job alternation leave was 31 July 2024. The total expenditure on job alternation compensations paid as part of an earnings-related benefit was EUR 50 million in 2024, which translates into an increase of 97% compared to the year before.
For more information on legislative changes to unemployment benefits, see Appendix 4 of Kela’s Statistical Yearbook.
3.2 Expenditure on unemployment benefits
Expenditure on unemployment benefits amounted to EUR 4,000 million in 2024. Unemployment funds accounted for a total of EUR 2,088 million (earnings-related benefits) and Kela for EUR 1,912 million (basic unemployment benefits) of this total.
In 2024, nominal expenditure on unemployment benefits increased by 5% compared to 2023. The expenditure on earnings-related benefits grew by 10.6%, while the expenditure on basic unemployment benefits decreased by 1.0%. In real terms, the expenditure on unemployment benefits increased by 3.1% from the previous year (Chart 1). The number of compensated days increased by 7.5% for earnings-related benefits and by 4.5% for basic unemployment benefits.
Chart 1. Expenditure on unemployment benefits 2015–2024, EUR million
| Year | Earnings-related benefits | Basic benefits |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,637 | 2,558 |
| 2016 | 3,419 | 2,644 |
| 2017 | 2,863 | 2,571 |
| 2018 | 2,311 | 2,351 |
| 2019 | 2,039 | 2,215 |
| 2020 | 3,181 | 2,676 |
| 2021 | 2,870 | 2,491 |
| 2022 | 1,986 | 1,990 |
| 2023 | 1,918 | 1,962 |
| 2024 | 2,088 | 1,912 |
The average rate of earnings-related unemployment allowance was EUR 71.95 per day in 2024. In real terms, this constitutes an increase of 1.0% from the previous year. The typical range for female recipients of earnings-related unemployment allowance was EUR 60.00 to EUR 69.99 per day, while for male recipients the range was EUR 70.00 to EUR 79.99 per day. The average rate of the labour market subsidy was EUR 37.66 per day. (Charts 2 and 3.)
Chart 2. Recipients of earnings-related unemployment allowance by sex and daily rates of benefit, 2024
Chart 3. Earnings-related unemployment allowance and labour market subsidy: Average daily compensations 2015–2024