Annual report of the
Employment Fund, 2019
Managing Director’s review
The Fund’s first year in operation involved constant renewal
The Fund’s new organisation was confirmed in early 2019. The Employment Fund was created by the merger of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Education Fund. The merger required a lot of work and long-term preparation, and the personnel of the funds played a key role. We spent the year laying the foundation for our operations and driving forward several development projects related to our statutory duties and targets derived from our strategy.
Work on the Incomes Register was done throughout the fund
The Employment Fund’s operations began at pace, as the merger coincided with the introduction of the Incomes Register for assessing unemployment insurance contributions – a new approach that had been long in preparation. A new information system and customer-facing service for unemployment insurance contributions were deployed from the start of the year.
A new model based on actual earnings was introduced for assessing and invoicing for unemployment insurance contributions, and the model proved extremely popular. In the future, the Fund will need to consider whether it will continue offering the prepayment model, which is very rarely used.

JANNE METSÄMÄKI
Managing Director
Key figures for 2019
Unemployment insurance contributions collected
EUR million
Adult education benefits paid
EUR million
Contributions to Kela
for persons not covered
by unemployment funds
EUR million
Contributions to
unemployment
funds
EUR million
Contributions from the pension cover of persons receiving earnings-related benefits
EUR million
Highlights of 2019
A new fund, a new strategy, a new organisation
We began operating on 1 January 2019 when the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Education Fund were merged. The merger sought to create a strong, efficient fund to handle the financing of unemployment allowances and the realisation of adult education benefits. We want to provide security throughout the changes in working life and serve all of our customers well: employees, employers and recipients of adult education benefits.


The Incomes Register was a giant digital step
The Employment Fund was among the first four organisations to begin using the national Incomes Register. From the very beginning of 2019, the Employment Fund began using the data on the Incomes Register to assess and invoice for unemployment insurance contributions. Preparations were made for the next step throughout the year: on 1 January 2020, we began using the data on the Incomes Register for granting adult education allowances.

A record year for the popularity of adult education allowances
People are clearly interested in enhancing their expertise once they have embarked on a career. The number of recipients of adult education allowances has been increasing for several years. And 2019 was a record year! 25,701 people received adult education allowances in 2019.

Long-term debts repaid
In 2015, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, as it was then known, borrowed money on the capital market in order to offset the increased expenditure on unemployment allowances due to a rise in unemployment. The last EUR 600 million of this bond was repaid in autumn 2019, and the Employment Fund no longer has any long-term debt.

Unemployment insurance contributions could be lowered
The improved employment situation in Finland enabled overall unemployment insurance contributions to be lowered for 2020. We reduced the total insurance contribution by an average of 0.49%.