Unemployed Vs Studying

[Adrian42]

I'm not sure if I'm reading correctly into this. A student gets €300 a month and then an additional amount in loans whereas an unemployed person gets €700 in aid, no loans.

In both cases other benefits like housing allowances are additionally possible.

An unemployed person who was previously working usually gets much more money from the unemployment funds he is a member of.

[Pursuivant]

Yep, additionally, if you are "unemployed" you have to sit on your ass waiting for a job to come and jump from the bush and bite you in the nose, doing anything like going on an evening course at the community college might jeopardise your benefits as evidently you are "studying". Unless of course the TE-keskus puts you onto a course to learn crocheting which you must take lest you are quarantined for obstinency...

For this is Wisdom of the Government

[Y77]

something that you should consider is that at university there are no tuition fees,so beside the 300 eu gross opintotuki,you get free education,and I mean really free,not like in UK where you have to pay it back if and when you get a job,and also subsides student meals. If you get the Finnish job seekers allowance you get more also because the state is not contributing to your full time education,which obviously has a price.

[Pursuivant]

And, you're entitled to student housing which isn't luxus-luxus, but keeps you dry and warm. And student discounts etc... If you study vocational IIRC the lunhces were free or almost. Anyways, students spend a lot of money on books and paper (printouts) but theres a rife recycling market - good notes fetch a premium so learn how to print your notes...

[Pursuivant]

After the 500 days (don't tell me you didn't belong to a fund?) you might get the TE keskus agree this might be a good idea - instead of the crocheting - but you must get them to agree first. If you go do things as you (and everyone else thinks) is "sensible", they go "oooaaah, not unemployed any more" and strike another one off their statistics and collect a bonus. So you really need to get them convinced first - they allow it these days which was a grand improvement of 20 years of thumb-in-ass...

Mind you, i told them to go stuff it and went to study a degree, but I then had a missus to cover the bills...

[Pursuivant]

I think you can get the full whatever the union is paying you - provided the TE keskus agrees. They have that information hidden somewhere on mol.fi - and you need to know the chapter and verse as the TE keskus is about as clueless as a HBS case wanting to move to Nowheremäki.

[Adrian42]

After the 500 days (don't tell me you didn't belong to a fund?) you might get the TE keskus agree this might be a good idea - instead of the crocheting - but you must get them to agree first.

It was only natural to join a fund with the ways things were going. So you're saying if they agree, I can receive the labor market subsidy instead of the student benefit? If such an option is possible then I will definitely try to convince them.

Pursuivant was referring to the Basic Unemployment Allowance you get after the 500 days, not the Labor Market Subsidy you get during the 500 days.

I've worked for a long time and have a high degree but now unemployed. I thought of studying a different discipline in the hopes that it might increase my chances in finding a job.

I don't know what your plans are, but when you already have a high degree and want to study something completely different I'd be worried both about your chances of success (learning is much harder for a person over 30 who was long out of school and university than for an 18 year old kid) and whether the resulting degree really increases the chances at the job market.

Is there anything on top of your degree that could improve your prospects at the job market?
Or are there any skills that could improve your chances at the job market based on whatever degree and work experience you already have (e.g. improve your Finnish or learn Russian or whatever)?


In any case, you should discuss with the TE office how they can support you, and which of your suggestions are acceptable for them.

[Adrian42]

Pursuivant was referring to the Basic Unemployment Allowance you get after the 500 days, not the Labor Market Subsidy you get during the 500 days.

It's the other way around. When you get unemployed, if you belong to a fund then you receive the allowance from the fund for 500 days. After that you get the labor market subsidy. The basic unemployment allowance is for people who don't belong to a fund and when it runs out then they too will get the labor market subsidy.

You are right, I got that mixed up.

Please disregard this part of my previous comment.