Due to the measures set out in the Government Programme,
the financing contributions paid by the Fund decreased even though
the unemployment rate was higher than in 2024.
The year 2025 was characterised by geopolitical uncertainty. At the same time, the Finnish economy grew more slowly than expected and unemployment increased. This was also reflected in Employment Fund’s finances, which meant that the Fund posted a deficit. We are responsible for financing and implementing unemployment security and other areas of social security and were able to manage this task successfully in 2025. We carried out development projects in accordance with our strategy by, for example, updating IT platform services and capabilities. Customer satisfaction remained high and satisfaction among our personnel improved.
Geopolitics and the global economy were characterised by a great deal of uncertainty in 2025 such as the continuation of the war in Ukraine and instability in the Middle East. Tariff issues and the prospect of trade wars also caused uncertainty in the Finnish economy.
Finland’s economic operating environment, especially in the field of unemployment, continued to deteriorate in 2025. At the same time, the European Central Bank lowered its key interest rates and inflation remained very low in Finland. The outlook for business confidence indicators improved during the year. Moreover, the economic forecast is generally slightly improving for 2026, although it is difficult to predict future developments.
Managing Director Karo Nukarinen
Year 2025 in figures | Year 2025 in a nutshell | Personnel | Contributions and allowances | Finance | Investment activities | Previous publications
The employer's average unemployment insurance contribution percentage was 0.62 in 2025 and is 0.92 in 2026. The employee's unemployment insurance contribution percentage was 0.59 in 2025 and is 0.89 in 2026.
The proposal for increasing the contributions was prompted by the projection of a lower business cycle buffer, lower income and higher than anticipated unemployment rate as well as the outlook for the economy and employment.
Last year, we continued to implement Employment Fund’s strategy by closely monitoring the indicators created in early 2025 to measure the progress of the strategy.
During the year, we successfully transferred our IT services to a new supplier and built new platform capabilities. The reform will help us in digital development as we build more customer-oriented and efficient services. An example of this is the modernisation of our unemployment insurance contribution services.
The shutdown of the adult education allowance scheme has continued in accordance with the timetable specified in the law. The abolition transition period ended on 31 December 2025. The amount of the allowances paid decreased substantially compared to 2024. We will make the last allowance payments in early 2026, after which the material will be archived and the information systems will be gradually shut down.
The change has also been reflected in our organisation: since the end of 2023, the number of the Fund’s employees has decreased by 29% and totalled 124 at the end of 2025. Customer satisfaction has remained at excellent levels throughout the shutdown process.
We monitored the employee experience with a personnel survey carried out in the spring and with two follow-up pulse surveys conducted in the autumn. The eNPS of the most recent pulse survey (value can range from -100 to 100) was -7, which represents an improvement to previous years (2024: -18, 2023: -26). However, the prolonged change situation arising from the abolition of the adult education benefits is still reflected in the results of personnel surveys and in the eNPS results.
As we aimed for an excellent employee experience, our focus was on developing supervisory work during 2025. In the spring, we updated the Fund’s management principles, and based on them, we assessed supervisors with 270 degree feedback. The overall score was 4.58/5. The development priorities arising from the assessment will also guide management development in 2026.
We continued to strengthen Employment Fund’s IT capabilities during 2025. Towards the end of 2025, we reached a significant milestone as we completed an extensive IT project, in which we transferred our IT services to a new supplier and built new platform capabilities. The IT capability project has been one of our most significant strategic investments in recent years, and as a result of the work carried out on the project, the Fund now has an up-to-date IT base, which will create better opportunities for developing digital services.
The impacts of the IT capability project are reflected in the daily routines of thepersonnel, and the aim has been to ensure that our staff members have user-friendly, secure and reliable solutions that support the development of both individuals and the organisation. Strengthening personnel competence has been a key part of the project, and in autumn 2025, we provided all staff members with cloud training, the aim of which was to increase basic understanding of the benefits of cloud technologies and their impacts on the development of services.
The utilisation of artificial intelligence also played a key role in the development of personnel competence in 2025. During the year, we specified the guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence and the principles of responsible AI use.
Before introducing the selected AI tools, staff members are required to complete internal training on AI principles, use and responsibility.
The act abolishing the adult education benefits entered into force on 1 June 2024 and the transition period for adult education allowance ended on 31 December 2025. The legislative amendment had a significant impact on the activities of the service areas providing benefit services and support functions as well as on human resources already during the transition period. In 2025, benefit services were only provided by a single team.
The exceptionally long transition period made the change a demanding experience for all parties, and for this reason we invested in participatory change management throughout the process. The impacts of the change were monitored with regular experience measurements, which allowed us to target support measures and communications according to the needs of the personnel.
We collect the unemployment insurance contributions paid by all employers and employees. We determine the unemployment insurance contributions on the basis of the information reported by the employers to the Incomes Register. Parliament approves the contribution rates by passing a bill on the contributions each year.
In 2025, we collected a total of EUR 1,178 (1,571) million in unemployment insurance contributions. Employers accounted for EUR 571 (766) million and employees for EUR 607 (806) million of this total. The liability components and transition security contributions paid by employers, and the deductions specified in the Employment Contracts Act totalled EUR 29 (24) million. Payments by central government totalled EUR 605 million and by municipalities EUR 95 million. In 2025, we collected a total of EUR 1,907 (2,347) million in contributions.
The unemployment insurance contribution rates were lowered for 2025 in accordance with the proposal made by the Fund. Lowering of the contributions from 2024 was made possible by the estimated impact of the measures set out in the Government Programme, decisions made by the Government in its spending limits discussions, outlook for the economy and employment, and the high level of the business cycle buffer.
The benefits financed by Employment Fund include the unemployment allowances paid by unemployment funds and Kela, pension contributions related to earnings-related daily allowances and the adult education allowance paid by the Fund. We also work as experts in the reconciliation of the compensation paid in disputes concerning termination of employment and the unemployment allowance received by the employee.
In 2025, we financed unemployment security paid by unemployment funds totalling EUR 1,762 (1,985) million, including central government and municipal contributions. This was 11.2% less than in 2024, and the decrease was mainly due to the impacts of the measures set out in the Government Programme.
Employment Fund accounted for EUR 1,063 (1,238) million of the funding. The decline of the share financed with unemployment insurance contributions was partly due to the decrease in the lay-off daily allowances for which the Fund is responsible by 22.1% or EUR 81 million. Employment Fund, central government and municipalities cover about 94.5% of the financing of unemployment funds. The remainder of the financing comes from the membership contributions.
We paid a total of EUR 94 (167) million to Kela as the Fund’s share of basic income security for employees who are not members of unemployment funds and paid a total of EUR 30 (27) million as the Fund’s share of pay security to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
In 2025, we contributed to the employment pension costs by paying to the Finnish Centre for Pensions and the State Pension Fund a total of EUR 668 (732) million in employment pensions accruing during the earnings-related daily allowance period and the payment period of job alternation leave and adult education allowance.
We finance the transition security package intended for dismissed employees aged 55 and over, which consists of transition security training and transition security allowance. We paid a total of EUR 5 million in transition security training costs to the employment areas and a total of EUR 14 (12) million in transition security allowances to unemployment funds and Kela.
The year of the adult education benefits was characterised by the implementation of the abolition set out in the Government Programme. The transition period for abolishing the adult education allowance began on 1 August 2024 and ended on 31 December 2025.
In 2025, a total of EUR 77 (203) million in adult education allowances was paid to 15,144 (31,796) persons. In accordance with the act abolishing the allowance scheme, adult education allowances could only be granted to wage and salary earners or full-time entrepreneurs whose studies and allowance period had started on 31 July 2024 at the latest.
We received only 263 (29,124) applications for scholarships for qualified employees, and on their basis we granted a total of EUR 0.1 (9.6) million in scholarships to 148 (23,009) persons in 2025. In 2025, scholarships for qualified employees could only be granted on the basis of a vocational qualification taken by 31 July 2024.
Employment Fund maintains a statutory business cycle buffer to ensure liquidity and balance out changes in unemployment insurance contributions. The business cycle buffer accrues on the basis of the difference between Employment Fund’s assets and liabilities. When the unemployment insurance contributions are set, the forecast for the maximum amount of assets or liabilities in the buffer may not exceed expenses corresponding to an unemployment rate of six percentage points. When the decision on the level of unemployment insurance contributions is made, the forecast for the business cycle buffer may by law exceed the maximum amount of assets over two years during a three-year review period to ensure a steady payment trend. In that case, however, unemployment insurance contributions may not be set higher than in the previous year.
The maximum amount of the buffer is calculated on the basis of the annual financial statements by dividing the annual expenses for which Employment Fund is liable (EUR 1,969 million in 2025) by the average unemployment rate for the year (9.7), and multiplying the result by six.
The statutory maximum amount of the business cycle buffer was EUR 1,218 (1,726) million in 2025.
Change in the Fund’s net position was EUR 729 million negative (EUR 749 million negative) in 2025. The Fund’s net position totalled EUR 543 million on 31 December 2025 (EUR 1,272 million on 31 December 2024).
When preparing our financial statements for 2025, we estimated that the change in Employment Fund’s net position would be about EUR 100 million negative in 2026, which would mean a positive net position of about EUR 440 million at the end of 2026. The main factor behind the weakened estimate is the forecast of a higher unemployment rate for 2026: 9.7% (previously 8.9%).
The figures are in EUR million
| Income | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Change EUR | Change % |
| Unemployment insurance contribution income collected from employers | 1,159 | 1,326 | 1,412 | 766 | 571 | -195 | -25% |
| Unemployment insurance contribution income collected from employees | 1,241 | 1,424 | 1,490 | 806 | 607 | -198 | -25% |
| Government contributions |
911 |
717 | 704 | 752 | 700 | -51 | -7% |
| Other employer contributions* | 23 | 23 | 21 | 24 | 29 | 5 | 19% |
| Total income | 3,335 | 3,490 | 3,627 | 2,347 | 1,907 | -440 | -19% |
| Expenses | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Change EUR | Change % |
| Unemployment funds, Employment Fund’s contributions | -1,463 | -1,039 | -1,098 | -1,238 | -1,063 | -175 | -14% |
| Unemployment funds, government contributions | -909 | -714 | -700 | -747 | -699 | -48 | -6% |
| Finnish Centre for Pensions | -902 | -596 | -600 | -722 | -659 | -64 | -9% |
| Social Insurance Institution of Finland | -239 | -243 | -263 | -168 | -94 | -73 | -44% |
| Adult education benefits | -186 | -189 | -201 | -212 | -77 | -135 | -64% |
| Employment areas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 | -5 | |
| Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment | -14 | -20 | -30 | -32 | -30 | -2 | -6% |
| State Pension Fund | -11 | -8 | -8 | -10 | -10 | 0 | 0% |
| Administrative expenses | -26 | -23 | -34 | -34 | -31 | -3 | -8% |
| Total expenses | -3,750 | -2,832 | -2,934 | -3,163 | -2,668 | -495 | -16% |
| Net financial income | 3 | -34 | 69 | 67 | 32 | -35 | -52% |
| Change in net position | -412 | 625 | 763 | -749 | -729 | 19 |
| Net position | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Change EUR | Change % |
| Investment assets and cash and cash equivalents | 1,339 | 1,885 | 1,869 | 1,513 | 857 | -656 | -43% |
| Receivables, accruals and fixed assets | 679 | 818 | 859 | 447 | 354 | -93 | -21% |
| Short-term and long-term loans | 1,299 | 1,299 | 599 | 599 | 599 | 0 | 0% |
| Unemployment insurance contribution and other liabilities | 86 | 146 | 109 | 89 | 69 | -20 | -22% |
| Net position | 633 | 1,258 | 2,021 | 1,272 | 543 | -729 | -57% |
*Other employer contributions contain the employer’s liability component and transition security contributions and the deductions under the Employment Contracts Act.
Employment Fund carries out investment activities to the extent necessary to manage the timing differences in the cash flows generated by its income and expenses, and for liquidity management purposes.
In 2025, the return on our investments was 2.9% (4.2%). The return was at the same level as the reference return of 2.9% (3.9%) on our investments but remained slightly below the expected return of 3.2% (3.6%) envisaged in our investment plan.
Sustainable investment means that when we make investment decisions, we take environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into consideration in addition to financial indicators. With the exception of index investments, we integrate ESG factors into all our investments insofar as is possible. An external party reviews our investments twice a year and reports any deviations.
We exclude companies whose operating methods are considered irresponsible with regard to factors such as corruption, child labour, employees’ rights and human rights from our list of potential investments. We invest in companies that comply with the UN Global Compact wherever possible.
