Employment Fund has submitted the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health an estimate of the level of unemployment insurance contributions for 2027

Employment Fund    
Stock Exchange Release    
April 28, 2026 at 13.30

Employment Fund has presented the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health with an estimate that the total aggregate amount of employer’s and employee’s unemployment insurance contributions could be kept at the current level or would need to be increased by maximum of 0.3 percentage points for 2027.    

Currently, the total amount of unemployment insurance contributions is approximately 1.8%.    

The estimate of the amount of unemployment insurance contributions for the year 2027 is based on forecasts and calculations used by Employment Fund, which take into account different alternatives for the development of the economy and employment, as well as the effects of the implemented legislative changes.  

According to the forecasts used by Employment Fund, the economic situation in Finland has weakened and will remain challenging in 2026, but the situation is forecasted to improve in 2027. The forecast environment contains exceptionally high uncertainty. Employment Fund's basic forecast predicts that the unemployment rate will be approximately 10.3% in 2026 and will decrease to 9.8% in 2027.   

Despite the increasing unemployment, the number of recipients of earnings-related unemployment benefits is decreasing. In addition, the effects of the staggering of the earnings-related daily allowance have clearly reduced earnings-related unemployment benefits since last year. The combined effect of these factors is estimated to exceed the impact of the weakened economic forecasts on Employment Fund’s financing contributions paid. 

According to the Employment Fund’s basic forecast, the change in the Fund's net assets would be positive in 2026 and would remain positive in 2027 at the current payment level.   

Employment Fund has a EUR 600 million bond maturing in June 2027, which has been taken into account when preparing the estimate.  

“The weak unemployment trend and economic outlook have a negative impact on Employment Fund's economic outlook. However, the Fund’s expected result is improved by two factors: the number of earnings-related unemployment allowance recipients has decreased despite the general increase in unemployment, and the staggering of earnings-related unemployment allowance has reduced the average allowance. 

We have also taken into account the upcoming bond maturity in 2027. As a result of these factors, we estimate the unemployment insurance contributions could be kept at the current level or would need to be increased by maximum of 0.3 percentage points”, says Henri Pohjanen, Employment Fund’s Chief Financial Officer.  

At the end of 2025, Employment Fund's net assets (business cycle buffer) were EUR 543 million. In the 2025 financial statement release published in February 2026, we estimated that the change in Employment Fund's net assets would be approximately EUR 100 million negative in 2026 and that the net assets would be EUR 440 million positive on December 31, 2026. When preparing the payment estimate for 2027, we estimate that the change in Employment Fund’s net assets would be approximately EUR 60 million positive in 2026, which would mean positive net assets of approximately EUR 600 million at the end of 2026. The statutory maximum amount of the business cycle buffer is estimated to be approximately EUR 1,100 million at that time.   

Employment Fund is entitled to submit an estimate of the following year’s earnings-related benefit expenses, the Government’s contribution and percentages of unemployment insurance contributions to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health each year.     

The estimate of the contributions presented is preliminary at this stage. The final proposal will be confirmed at the meeting of the Employment Fund’s Supervisory Board, on 27 August 2026, when more information on the development of the Fund's income and expenditure, as well as on the economic cycle in general, will be available for decision-making.   

Helsinki, 28 April 2026 
Employment Fund         
Henri Pohjanen  
Chief Financial Officer        

Further information:              
Karo Nukarinen, Managing Director, +358 50 564 0920       
Henri Pohjanen, Chief Financial Officer, +358 40 709 2806 

Distribution:    
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki          
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