Employment-promoting services

Services promoting employment are:

• Training in job-seeking
• Career training
• Work trials
• Rehabilitative work activities
• Labour market training
• Self-motivated studies
• Integration training

Participation in employment-promoting services is always agreed upon with the employment authority. Participation days, vacation periods and absences are reported to the Unemployment Fund in the daily allowance application.

You can read more about employment-promoting services from JobMarket.

The Unemployment Fund can pay an expense allowance for the duration of employment-promoting services based on the labour policy statement from the employment authority.  Expense allowance is a tax-free income that is paid for the duration of your participation in employment-promoting services.

Expense allowance is usually 9 € / day and it is paid for a maximum of five days a week. Expense allowance can be paid at an increased rate (18 € / day) if you participate in employment-promoting services outside your working area. However, this does not apply to rehabilitative work activities.

An increased expense allowance can also be paid when the service is organized in a work area outside your home municipality, and you incur accommodation costs due to participation. Documentation of accommodation costs must be presented with the application.

You are not entitled to expense allowance during periods of self-motivated studies or during vacation periods or other days of absence from employment-promoting services.

Please note that expense allowance can only be paid for days on which you are otherwise entitled to earnings-related allowance. If the earnings-related allowance cannot be paid, for example due to income from part-time work, the expense allownce cannot be paid, even if you have participated in an employment-promoting service.

Increased component (discontinued from 1 January 2025)

The increased component of unemployment security will be discontinued as of 1 January 2025. The increased component of unemployment security can still be paid in situations where the employment-promoting service has started no later than 31 December 2024.

Always mark the days you have participated in employment-promoting services in your earnings-related allowance application. Vacation periods must also be indicated in the application and, for example, weekdays when the training is conducted. Expense allowance is not paid for vacation periods of TE services.

If you are absent from the employment-promoting service on its scheduled days, please state the reason for the absence in your application. Earnings-related allowance without expense allowance is paid for days of absence if you have been absent for an acceptable reason. Acceptable reasons include illness or illness of a child under the age of 10 (up to 4 days), a job interview or another employment-related reason comparable to this.

If your illness lasts more than 3 days, provide the Unemployment Fund with a medical certificate. If you interrupt an employment-promoting, immediately inform the employment authority.

You can find further instructions on how to complete an earnings-related allowance application here.