Unemployment Insurance Fund Stock Exchange Release 27 June 2018 at 13:00
The President of the Republic of Finland has ratified a legislative amendment that will enable the merger of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Education Fund to form a new fund. This fund will be called the Employment Fund and will be running from 1 January 2019.
Labour market confederations have suggested the merger of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Education Fund to the Government last summer.
The Employment Fund will handle the statutory tasks of both funds without causing any changes to the financing of unemployment benefits or the fund's solvency and financial position. In practice, this will be achieved by merging the Education Fund into the Unemployment Insurance Fund, with their liabilities and obligations being transferred to the new Employment Fund. The Employment Fund's business ID will be the Unemployment Insurance Fund's current business ID.
The proposed amendment will have no impact on adult education benefits or the position of wage-earners. The position of employers and unemployment funds would also remain unchanged.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund and Education Fund are legally established organisations administered by the social partners of the Finnish labour market. The Unemployment Insurance Fund's primary task is to collect unemployment insurance contributions and channel this income to those paying unemployment benefits. The Education Fund promotes the acquisition of necessary labour skills by granting statutory adult education benefits.
According to the Unemployment Insurance Fund's assessment the merger of the funds' aforementioned functions will have no impact on the new fund's financial standing or debt servicing capacity.
Further information:
Janne Metsämäki, Managing Director, tel. +358 40 522 3614 Tapio Oksanen, Deputy Managing Director, tel. +358 40 539 4651
Helsinki, 27 June 2018
Unemployment Insurance Fund
Tapio Oksanen Deputy Managing Director
Distribution: NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Media www.tvr.fi
