Frequently asked questions

We have a convenient online application form that you can use to join the YTK Unemployment Fund. At the same time, we recommend that you also join YTK Worklife. The Fund provides you with income security, while Worklife offers other services, benefits, and insurance.

You can join the fund when you are employed. For example, if you are unemployed or a student, you can only join when you have a workday. You can join YTK Työelämä once you are a member of the fund.

Once you have joined, it is worth keeping your membership valid until you retire.

The YTK Unemployment Fund membership fee is 102 €.

The membership fee is annual, but it is tied to the membership period. If you join or leave during the year, you only pay for the membership period.

You can check the remaining membership fee for the current year on the YTK Worklife pages.

It’s annoying to be unable to access the service just when you have the time set aside. Our online service OmaYTK is reliable, but it is always possible that a technical failure comes up and the service is unavailable.

• If you are unable to access OmaYTK, first check if there is a notification about the disturbance on our website. The fault may be caused by a larger network problem or by a maintenance outage on our end.
  • If you can see a notification on our website, this means that we are already fixing the problem.
• Sometimes the reason may be a problem with identifying to the service. In such cases, you can contact the bank or operator whose identification service you are using.
• If none of the above seems to be the problem, try clearing your browser’s cache.
  • A browser is an application that allows you to access content on the Internet. A browser is almost always needed when using the Internet, and they can be found in one form or another on all computers and other smart devices. The settings of the browser you are using typically have a privacy section, under which you will often find a button to clear the browser cache.
• You can also try logging in with an entirely different browser. Also, check the browser version you are using and always update it to the latest version.
  • Recommended browsers are Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
• If you have a very old computer, you may not be able to install the latest browser versions. In this case, try using a newer computer or mobile device. For example, old game consoles may have difficulty logging in to OmaYTK.

The most common question we receive concerns the payment schedule for earnings-related daily allowance.

It is important to us that you receive your earnings-related daily allowance quickly. Processing a single application takes us no time at all.

At the same time, we manage unemployment security for over half a million wage earners, so there can sometimes be a large number of applications to process at once. For example, we receive a large number of applications all at once at the turn of the month. At those times, processing times may be longer, as processing applications involves some manual work. On our website, you can find an estimate of current processing times.

Processing time also depends on the type of application. The first application is often the most labor-intensive, as we review all eligibility requirements and restrictions, calculate the amount of the earnings-related daily allowance, and set the waiting period. Processing times for these applications may therefore be slightly longer.

If your full-time unemployment or layoff continues without any changes, your follow-up application will in practice be paid immediately. In that case, you will receive your earnings-related daily allowance within two banking days.

Once we have processed your application and there are no obstacles to payment, the money will be in your account within two banking days. As the banking system evolves, we are seeing opportunities to transfer funds even faster, but for now, the system operates with a two-banking-day delay.

Read more about applying for earnings-related daily allowance and the different types of applications on our website.

Don’t worry! Register as a jobseeker and submit an application for earnings-related daily allowance. Then focus on your job search.

You can register as a jobseeker at the JobMarket.

You can apply for earnings-related daily allowance through our OmaYTK service.

You can get support for your job search through our Spark service. The employment authority in your area can also help you with your job search.

See more detailed instructions.

Don’t worry! Register as a job seeker no later than your first day of layoff and submit an application for earnings-related daily allowance to us. After that, focus on looking for work.

You can register as a jobseeker at the JobMarket.

You can apply for earnings-related daily allowance through our OmaYTK service.

You can get support for your job search through our Spark service. The employment authority in your area can also help you with your job search.

See more detailed instructions.

The amount of earnings-related daily allowance depends on the income used to calculate it. In addition, the amount of earnings-related daily allowance you receive is affected by your income during unemployment and any other social benefits you receive.

On average, we pay a fully unemployed person about 80 euros per day in earnings-related daily allowance. We pay for five days a week, which amounts to an average of about 1 700 euros per month. After taxes, the take-home pay averages about 1 400 euros.

If unemployment continues for a long time, the amount of unemployment benefits decreases. This is called staggering. The staggering works as follows: after 40 days of paid earnings-related daily allowance, the amount of your allowance is reduced to 80 % of the full daily allowance. After 170 days of payment, the daily allowance amount is reduced to 75 % of the full daily allowance.

You can estimate the amount of your earnings-related daily allowance using your own information with our calculator.

In order for us to pay earnings-related daily allowance, you must be eligible for earnings-related daily allowance, and there must be no obstacles to payment due to restrictions.

You can submit your first application two weeks after the start of unemployment. For example, if unemployment starts on 1.1., you can submit your first application on 14.1. In this case, the application period is from 1.1.-14.1.

When you submit a follow-up application, OmaYTK will automatically suggest a start date and an end date for the application. Please follow the suggestion unless we specifically ask you otherwise.

When your full-time unemployment or layoff ends, you can submit your application up until the last day of unemployment or layoff. In this case, you may therefore deviate from the dates suggested by OmaYTK. However, if your part-time unemployment ends and you become fully unemployed, submit your application by the end of the suggested application period.

We generally receive all the necessary information with the application and from the Incomes Register. Sometimes, we need additional information about your wages or your employment contract, for example. By filling in the application carefully, OmaYTK will guide you and ask for the necessary attachments. However, you can always send the application without attachments. When we process your application, we will ask for additional information if necessary.

You can find more information about the necessary attachments in our knowledge bank.

When you register as a job seeker, the employment office will review your situation and issue a statement. We receive the statement directly electronically.

In the statement, the employment office tells us whether you are eligible for unemployment benefits. If we do not have the statement, we cannot pay you unemployment benefits. That is why it is important that you remember to register as a job seeker.

However, the absence of a statement does not prevent you from submitting an application. So always submit your application on time, even if the statement is missing.

In our knowledge bank, you can find more information about the employment authority’s duties.

The law requires us to give you a decision within 30 days of receiving the application, provided that all necessary information is available to us. However, it is very rare that you will need to wait this long. Normally, we get your money to you very quickly.

However, there are situations when processing the application is slower. Sometimes, for example, we have to wait for further clarification or statements from the employment authority. We also experience congestion from time to time due to the high number of applications. The busiest time is the turn of the month for the first few months of the year. This is when unemployment is typically at its highest, and we receive tens of thousands of applications at once.

It is important to us that you receive your earnings-related daily allowance quickly. That is why we are constantly developing our tools and online service. In addition, we train our staff and try out new practices. For your part, you can help us by filling in your application carefully. In particular, entering your income correctly helps us greatly.

See also our estimated payment times.

There is a waiting period at the start of the earnings-related daily allowance period. We cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance during the waiting period.

The waiting period corresponds to seven full working days. A maximum of five days of the waiting period may be used per week.

The waiting period applies only to the period for which you have applied for earnings-related daily allowance. Therefore, do not omit the waiting period from your application yourself.

The waiting period does not run concurrently with a suspension period imposed by the employment authority, during the payment of holiday compensation or the staggering of financial benefits, or during a period when your job search is not active.

Read more about the waiting period.

The amount of unemployment benefits decreases as unemployment becomes prolonged. This reduction is known as staggering.

The amount of earnings-related daily allowance decreases for the first time after we have paid you earnings-related daily allowance for 40 days.

For the second time, the amount of earnings-related daily allowance decreases after we have paid you earnings-related daily allowance for 170 days.

We pay earnings-related daily allowance for a maximum of five days a week, so 40 payment days correspond to just under two months and 170 payment days to just under eight months.

The first graduation reduces the earnings-related daily allowance to 80 % of the full earnings-related daily allowance.

The second graduation reduces the earnings-related daily allowance to 75 % of the full earnings-related daily allowance.

Read more about staggering.

Earnings-related daily allowance is subject to tax. We receive your tax card information directly from the tax authorities. If we use your tax card to pay your daily allowance, your withholding tax will be at least 25 %, in accordance with the Tax Administration’s guidelines.

When you apply for earnings-related unemployment benefits, you should visit the tax authority’s OmaVero service. Order a new tax card by providing the tax authority with an estimate of the earnings-related daily allowance you will receive. When you designate us, YTK Unemployment Fund, as the recipient of your tax information, the tax authority will send us the verified withholding tax rate directly for the payment of your earnings-related daily allowance.

During the notice period, you are not yet unemployed, so we cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance.

If the notice period has not been observed, the employer must pay you compensation corresponding to the notice period. If you are entitled to such compensation, we cannot pay earnings-related daily allowance for this period. What is often confusing is that we cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance even if you do not receive the compensation. The payment of the earnings-related daily allowance is prevented by the mere right to compensation. In other words, it makes no difference whether the compensation has been paid to you or not.

The unemployment fund cannot help you in matters related to your employment relationship. Because of this, we cannot help you if your employer refuses to pay you the compensation you are owed. If you are a member of YTK Worklife, you can use the Legal Assistance to help you with issues related to your employment relationship.

We cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance if you are entitled to annual holiday pay based on earnings from full-time work. If you are fully unemployed, such a situation will not arise in practice.

If you are employment part-time, it is possible that you are entitled to holiday pay on the basis of full-time work. We cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance during this period. If, on the other hand, you receive holiday pay based on earnings from part-time work, we will take the holiday pay into account when adjusting your allowance. In this case, holiday pay reduces the earnings-related daily allowance paid to you. In these situations, it is also possible that earnings-related daily allowance may not be paid to you at all.

Unfortunately, we cannot receive information about holiday pay from the Incomes Register. Therefore, always remember to report your holiday pay carefully in your application.

You can apply for earnings-related daily allowance even if you work part-time. In that case, we will pay you an adjusted earnings-related allowance. Read more about adjusted earnings-related daily allowance in our knowledge bank.

We cannot pay you earnings-related daily allowance for the same period for which you are entitled to holiday compensation from full-time work. Read more about the staggering of holiday compensation.

If you are entitled to holiday compensation for unused vacation days when your part-time employment or full-time employment lasting no more than 2 weeks ends, we will take the holiday compensation into account in the adjusted daily allowance based on the payment date. Read more about the adjustment of earnings-related unemployment allowance.

Earnings-related daily allowance is intended to compensate for financial losses resulting from unemployment. It is based on established wage income. “Established” means that you have been working regularly for a considerable period of time and have received wage income. The Unemployment Security Act stipulates that to be eligible for earnings-related daily allowance, you must have earned a sufficient wage over a 12-month period. This is known as the working condition.

Read more about the working condition.