Employment requirement

You can receive an earnings-related allowance if you have satisfied the employment requirement while being a member of an unemployment fund. The employment requirement can consist of several periods of employment, but it must be satisfied within the review period.

Only work for which social security contributions have been paid and advance tax deductions made can count towards the employment requirement. In addition, you must have been paid for the work in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement. If there is no collective bargaining agreement in your industry, you must have been paid at least EUR 1,463 per month for full-time work in 2026.

Periods of paid annual leave and paid sick leave also count towards the employment requirement. However, periods during which you received partial sickness benefit or reduced sick pay do not count towards the employment requirement.

Each employment requirement month that counts towards the employment requirement can be counted only once.

Accumulation of the employment requirement

The employment requirement is 12 calendar months and must be accumulated within a 28-month review period. The employment requirement accumulates based on earnings paid. A calendar month counts towards the employment requirement if the gross earnings paid during that month are at least EUR 930.

The employment requirement can also accumulate in half-months if your earned income during a calendar month is at least EUR 465 but less than EUR 930. Two half employment requirement months make up one full employment requirement month. The two half months do not need to be consecutive in order to be combined. If the employment requirement consists entirely of half months, it will take 24 months to satisfy the employment requirement.

Pay received on or after 2 September 2024 counts towards the employment requirement only if it is based on work performed on or after 2 September 2024.

26-calendar-week employment requirement

Until 1 September 2024, the employment requirement was 26 calendar weeks and accumulated based on working hours. As a general rule, only weeks during which you worked at least 18 hours counted towards the employment requirement. There are, however, exceptions for people working in fields such as teaching and the arts. These exceptions are separately provided for in a Government Decree (1330/2002).

The 26-week employment requirement continues to apply if no period from 2 September 2024 onwards is taken into account in your employment requirement.

Review period

The review period is 28 months and is calculated backwards from the date on which you register as an unemployed job-seeker. The employment requirement must be satisfied within the review period.

In certain circumstances, the review period can be extended by up to seven years. Acceptable reasons for extending the review period include:

• illness
• periods for which you received partial sickness benefits or reduced sick pay
• partial disability pension or part-time pension if you were working less than 18 hours a week
• rehabilitation
• military service and alternative service
• birth of a child and care or foster care of a child under the age of 3
• care of a family member or relative
• subsidised work that does not count towards the employment requirement
• scholarship for scientific or artistic work
• services that promote employment
• full-time education
• alternation leave and
• imprisonment

Extensions longer than seven years are also possible in the case of a partial disability pension and part-time pension.

Resatisfaction of the employment requirement

You resatisfy the employment requirement once you have accumulated at least 12 calendar months that count towards the employment requirement within the 28-month review period.

When you satisfy the employment requirement, the amount of your earnings-related allowance will be recalculated. This calculation will be carried out even if you have not yet used up the maximum period of your previous earnings-related allowance. Your pay during the period that counts towards satisfying the employment requirement will be taken into account in the calculation. A new personal liability period will also be imposed, and the maximum earnings-related allowance period will start again from the beginning.

If you resatisfy the employment requirement while engaged in independent study or labour market training, the amount of your earnings-related allowance will not be recalculated in the middle of your studies or training.

If you are at least 58 years old and satisfied the employment requirement no later than 1 September 2024, the level of your earnings-related allowance is protected. This means that we will not recalculate the wage on which your allowance is based unless your new wage is higher than your previous wage. You can read more about this on the page Exceptions for persons aged 55 and over, under the section on recalculation of earnings-related allowances for persons aged 58 and above until 1 September 2024.

80% protection rule

If you have not used up the maximum period of your earnings-related allowance before resatisfying the employment requirement, your earnings-related allowance will be at least 80% of the earnings-related allowance previously paid to you.

Subsidised work

Subsidised work does not count towards the employment requirement if the employment begins on or after 2 September 2024. However, subsidised work extends the review period for the employment requirement, which is normally 28 months, by the entire duration of the subsidised employment.

If a wage subsidy is granted for the employment of a person with reduced working capacity or a person aged 60 or over who has been unemployed for a long time, part of the subsidised employment can count towards the employment requirement. In such cases, the first 10 months of subsidised work do not count towards the employment requirement. If the subsidised employment continues after the first 10 months, 75% of the remaining period of employment can count towards the employment requirement.

Subsidised work that began no later than 1 September 2024

If you have been in subsidised work and your employment began no later than 1 September 2024, 75% of the subsidised work can count towards your employment requirement. To satisfy the 26-week employment requirement, you must therefore have worked in subsidised employment for at least 35 weeks.

Employment obligation

Following the legislative amendment, the employment obligation no longer applies if the obligation arose on or after 2 September 2024. However, if the obligation arose no later than 1 September 2024, work or services based on the employment obligation may begin after that date. Work and services arranged under the employment obligation count in full towards the employment requirement, and in this case the employment requirement is six employment requirement months.

You can read more about the employment obligation on the page Exceptions for persons aged 55 and over, under Employment obligation.

Absences from the labour market

If you are absent from the labour market for more than six months without an acceptable reason, you will lose the employment requirement you have already accumulated. After this, you can receive an earnings-related allowance only after resatisfying the employment requirement.

In addition to paid employment and running a business, you are deemed to be in the labour market during periods when you are:

• registered as an unemployed job-seeker with the employment authority
• a full-time student
• on maternity, paternity, pregnancy or parental leave
• at home caring for a child up to 3 years old
• off sick or in rehabilitation
• on alternation leave or
• enrolled in a service that promotes employment

If you have received financial compensation from your employer in connection with the termination of your employment, such as a severance package, make sure that you are not absent from the labour market for more than six months.

Employment requirement for a non-owning family member of an entrepreneur

The employment requirement can also accumulate through work performed in a business owned by a family member. For the work to count towards the employment requirement, you must not have any ownership or control in the business or organisation yourself, and you must not be subject to YEL (self-employed person’s pension insurance) or MYEL (farmers’ pension insurance) obligations.

Employment requirement from 2 September 2024 onwards

You satisfy the employment requirement if you accumulate at least 12 employment requirement months within a 28-month review period while working in a business owned by a family member.

If your 12-calendar-month employment requirement is accumulated entirely after 2 September 2024, it will accumulate based on the pay you receive. If your employment requirement includes a period before this date, the employment requirement is 52 weeks and accumulates based on your working hours.

Work performed as a non-owning family member of an entrepreneur can be combined with other work performed as a wage earner for the purposes of satisfying the employment requirement. However, this is possible only once the employment requirement is accumulated entirely after 2 September 2024.

Employment requirement until 1 September 2024

If your employment requirement includes work performed before 2 September 2024, you satisfy the employment requirement if you have worked in a business owned by a family member for at least 52 calendar weeks within the 28-month review period. The employment requirement accumulates based on your working hours.

The employment requirement accumulated as a non-owning family member of an entrepreneur cannot be combined with the employment requirement for a wage earner. If you satisfy both employment requirements, you can choose which employment requirement will be used as the basis for paying your earnings-related allowance.