Unemployed people can sell berries without losing benefits

Unemployed people in Finland can theoretically earn hundreds of euros a day by picking wild berries without automatically losing their unemployment benefits, Yle reports. However, the rules depend on how long the picking continues, the scale of the activity and which benefit is being paid.

There is no euro limit on how much an unemployed person may earn from selling berries. Other income generally reduces unemployment benefits by 50 cents for every euro earned, but berry picking is assessed differently.

According to the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, known as Kela, berry picking is usually small-scale and does not affect the amount of general support. If the income is continuous or particularly large, however, the activity may be considered professional.

Yle previously reported berry pickers earning more than 300 euros a day from collecting blueberries. Picking berries every weekday for a month at that rate could produce as much as 6,000 euros in tax-free income.

Kela’s lawyer Antti Ristimäki said the institution does not set a specific permitted income limit. Each case is assessed as a whole, and benefits are rarely denied because of independent, recreational berry picking.

Two authorities assess different issues

The employment authority determines whether intensive berry picking makes an unemployed person an entrepreneur. Kela or an unemployment fund assesses how the income affects the amount of the benefit.

If berries are picked for sale for less than two weeks, unemployment security continues as before. From two weeks to four months, the activity is treated as business activity, but a new business is subject to a four-month protection period. The income may still be taken into account when the benefit amount is calculated.

After four months, the authorities assess whether the business activity is full-time or part-time. If it is considered full-time, the person loses their right to unemployment benefits.

The assessment after the four-month period is made by KEHA, the Centre for Employment, Development and Administration. Its leading unemployment security specialist, Eetu Kauppinen, said there are no statistics on how often berry picking for profit leads to a statement preventing entitlement to benefits.

There are also no precise limits on how many hours a person may spend picking berries each day before the activity is considered to prevent them from accepting full-time work. Kauppinen said the law does not set such hourly limits.

Spending a couple of hours in the forest before a possible work shift would be assessed differently from picking berries for five hours during the day. The assessment is based on the information the person provides to the employment authority.

People may collect as many berries as they want for their own freezer. The authorities become interested when berries are picked for sale.

Berry income does affect social assistance, which is Finland’s last-resort financial support. All income and assets are taken into account, including money earned from picking berries.