Working condition

Last updated 13.11.2023

The working condition is the main condition for the earnings-related daily allowance. You can apply to us for an earnings-related daily allowance if you are one of our members and have fulfilled the working condition.

You meet the working condition when you have accumulated a total of 12 months of qualifying work during the 28-month reference period.

Accumulation of the working condition

The working condition is based on the wages paid to you.

You accumulate one month of working condition when you have been paid at least 930 € in a calendar month.

You accumulate half a month of working condition when you have been paid between 465 € and 929 € during the calendar month.

The working condition is met when you have accumulated a total of 12 months of working condition.

All statutory contributions and taxes must have been paid on the wages paid. We can only count wages that are at least in line with the collective agreement or the law as part of the working condition. For example, if your salary exceeds 930 € per month, but is below the minimum wage laid down in the collective agreement, you will not accrue any working condition even if you exceed the € limit.

Wage-subsidised work does not accumulate any working condition. However, as an exception, wage-subsidised work does accumulate a working condition after 10 months for the long-term unemployed over 60 years of age and for the partially incapable.

Fulfilling the working condition

The working condition is based on the wages paid to you. The working condition month is the calendar month in which your salary is paid. This means that, in principle, the working condition is met at the end of the calendar month in which the last of the 12 months of pay is paid to you.

Exceptionally, your working condition may be met and therefore your entitlement to daily allowance may start in the middle of a calendar month if,

• your unemployment has started in the middle of the calendar month and your working condition was fully completed by the end of the previous calendar month
• your unemployment starts in the middle of the calendar month and you have fully completed the working condition as a result of work done before you became a jobseeker (provided that the wages for the work done before you became a jobseeker have been paid during the working condition month).

If you have worked for exactly 12 months and have no other work that qualifies for the working condition, and your last salary is paid after the end of your employment, you may not be entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance as soon as your employment ends. In this situation, the last month of employment is not completed until the end of the calendar month in which the last salary is paid. When you are not entitled to earnings-related daily allowance, you can apply to Kela for labour market subsidy.

Reference period

You do not have to accumulate the working condition months in a single period. It is sufficient to accumulate the necessary months over a 28-month reference period.

You can also accumulate the working condition over a longer period than 28 months. This is possible in situations where we can extend the reference period. We can extend the reference period if you are prevented from being in the labour market because of

• illness, inpatient care or rehabilitation
• military or civilian service
• full-time studies
• the birth of a child or the care of a child up to 3 years old
• grant period
• wage-subsidised work
• other comparable valid reason

Even if you are in the labour market, we can extend your reference period if you are in an employment support service or receive partial sickness benefit. We can also extend your reference period if you are a member of parliament or a minister.

We can extend the reference period by up to seven years.

Validity of the working condition 

If you are absent from the labour market for more than six months without a valid reason, we cannot give you earnings-related daily allowance until you have fulfilled the working condition again after your absence.

We will not be able to take into account any working condition you have accumulated before the absence, because the new reference period for the working condition starts when you start working after the absence.

You are in the labour market when you have been

• in a job that counts towards the working condition
• in wage-subsidised work
• self-employed
• you have been in an employment support service
• you have been an unemployed jobseeker

You have a valid reason for your absence from the labour market due to

• illness
• inpatient care
• rehabilitation
• military service
• civilian service
• full-time studies
• grant period
• the birth of a child
• care of a child up to three years of age, or
• any other comparable reason

If you have been self-employed for more than 18 months or if you have fulfilled the working condition for self-employment as a member of an entrepreneur’s fund, we cannot give you earnings-related daily allowance until you have fulfilled the working condition as an employee again. In this case, the reference period for the working condition will start when you start working after your self-employment.

If you have fulfilled the working condition for self-employment and you join us, your right to self-employed daily allowance will end when you fulfil the working condition for employment as a member of our fund.

Change of the working condition criteria

Previously, the working condition was accumulated on the basis of working time per calendar week. The current working condition is based on salary and will apply from 2.9.2024.

The change in the law does not remove the working conditions you accumulated before the change in the law. We will convert the calendar weeks you previously accumulated until 1.9.2024 into working condition months, so that four calendar weeks will accumulate to one working condition month. Three of the remaining calendar weeks accumulate to one month of working condition. One or two calendar weeks accumulate to half a working condition month.

Thus, for example, five calendar weeks are converted into 1.5 working condition months, so that four calendar weeks make up one working condition month and the remaining one calendar week makes up one half a working condition month. Added together, these are 1.5 months of working condition.

Calendar weeks of the working condition	Working condition months
1 week	0,5 month
2 weeks	0,5 month
3 weeks	1 month
4 weeks	1 month
5 weeks	1,5 months
8 weeks	2 months
9 weeks	2,5 months
10 weeks	2,5 months
15 weeks	4 months
20 weeks	5 months
30 weeks	7,5 months
40 weeks	10 months

When your working condition is met from the combination, we add up the converted calendar weeks and the new months of working condition. For example, if you have accumulated 15 calendar weeks before 2.9.2024, which, when converted, equals 4 months of working condition, you will need 8 more months of working condition to meet the 12-month working condition.

Application of the law change

If the 26 calendar week working condition is met by Sunday 1.9.2024, we will apply the provisions of the old law, i.e. we will check whether you have worked at least 18 hours in 26 calendar weeks over a 28-month period. In this situation, your working condition will therefore be accumulated according to the old law.

When you start to accumulate working condition from 2.9.2024, we will apply the new law, i.e. we will check whether you have a total of 12 months of qualifying wages in the 28-month reference period. In this case, your working condition will be accumulated according to the new law. During the transition period, your working condition may also be based on a combination of the old and the new law.