The worst avalanche of applications to the Unemployment Fund has now been reversed
Photo: Getty Images.
Ilkka Nissilä, Unemployment Fund Director, estimates that the Fund’s performance during the corona crisis in the spring was commendable.
Majority of the huge number of unemployment benefit claims caused by the corona has now been dismantled. On Monday morning, 10 August, 821 first applications and 492 follow-up applications were waiting to be processed. There were 3,890 applications for the adjusted allowance in the queue. At its worst, there were more than 12,000 applications in pending during the corona spring.
There were a total of 725 calls to the Unemployment Fund’s service lines last week, ie week 32. Of these, 603 were answered. The response rate was 83. The average queuing time was just over 9 minutes. The queuing time is free of charge.
The Unemployment Fund was able to secure the livelihood of its members in the midst of the crisis
Ilkka Nissilä, Director of the Unemployment Fund, is satisfied with the way the Fund managed during the spring and summer corona crisis.
"During January-July, there were a total of almost 44,000 applications coming from unemployment and layoffs, which is about 4.5 times more than in the same period last year. Of course, there were delays in the processing time, but we were able to react quickly to the changed situation and now the worst jam is behind”, Nissilä states.
"As a large part of our members do part-time and gig work, we made a special effort to ensure that applications for the adjusted allowance were processed within a couple of weeks. We did well”, Nissilä concludes.
He gives thanks to the fund’s and the union’s employees.
"The staff, who were really committed and determined to work, overcame a challenging, unprecedented situation."
Although the worst is over, the Unemployment fund has prepared for a possible new wave of the corona.
"Now, of course, we hope that the situation with the disease will remain under control and that the lives of service sector workers will return to normal. However, we are constantly prepared if the situation develops for the worse as the autumn progresses," Nissilä promises.
Do you have questions about applying for earnings-related unemployment allowance?
Unemployment allowance applicants should first search for information on the Unemployment Fund's website and check the details concerning their own application in the Fund's online services. You can find current information on the processing of applications at the Unemployment Fund's page here.