Unemployment benefits recipients increase in Finland according to Kela statistics

At the end of last year, the number of recipients of unemployment benefits in Finland was higher than a year earlier, according to recent statistics from Kela, the Finnish social insurance institution. The data indicates that approximately 327,800 individuals were receiving unemployment benefits by the end of last year, representing about 10 percent of the working-age population in Finland. In comparison, around 300,000 people received these benefits at the close of 2022.

Despite the increase in the number of recipients, the real expenditure on unemployment benefits decreased by 2.4 percent compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the distribution of benefits showed that more men received unemployment payments than women in the past year.