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Working in Finland – contracts, collective agreements instead of a minimum wage and the 2026 changes

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

Finland has no minimum wage law, yet almost every job comes with a pay floor: the sector's collective agreement. Two changes arrived in 2026 – an easier dismissal test in January and fixed-term contracts without justification in June. Here is what your contract must say, what you are owed and who checks your degree.

Woman working on a laptop at a wooden desk with a lamp in a concrete-walled office
Photo: Gorodenkoff/Adobe Stock

Working in Finland starts with a fact that surprises many newcomers: there is no statutory minimum wage. Pay floors come from sector collective agreements – työehtosopimus, or TES; where an agreement has been declared universally binding, even an employer that belongs to no organisation must apply it. National law changed two central rules in 2026. Since 1 January 2026 an employer needs only a 'proper reason' related to your person to dismiss you (Act 1390/2025), and since 1 June 2026 a first fixed-term contract with a new employer needs no justification (Act 412/2026).

The labour market is tight – unemployment was 9.1 per cent in August 2026 – and while many jobs in IT and international companies run in English, most workplaces require Finnish or Swedish.

Is there a minimum wage in Finland? What collective agreements do instead

The Employment Contracts Act (chapter 2, section 10) fills the gap: if no collective agreement applies and pay was not agreed, you must be paid a 'usual and reasonable' wage. A contract term that contradicts the applicable collective agreement is void, an employer may not pay less than the agreement, and normal wages are due during probation; the universally binding agreements are published on Finlex. Wages go to your bank account with a payslip, normally monthly or every two weeks; unpaid 'trial shifts' are not allowed.

Statistics Finland, full-time wage and salary earners€ per month
Median, all sectors (2024)3,615
Lowest-paid tenth earned at most2,483
Highest-paid tenth earned at least6,119
Median, information and communication4,990
Median, accommodation and food services2,720
Average (mean), second quarter 2026, preliminary4,304

Source: Statistics Finland (structure of earnings 2024; index of wage and salary earnings, second quarter 2026), read 24 September 2026.

From gross pay your employer withholds tax under your verokortti (tax card) from Vero (Tax Administration) – 60 per cent if you show none – plus the employee's pension contribution of 7.30 per cent and unemployment insurance of 0.89 per cent in 2026, 8.19 per cent together. Foreign nationals accrue earnings-related pension like Finns, 1.5 per cent of gross annual earnings between the ages of 17 and 69, and the pension is paid to any country.

What must an employment contract in Finland contain?

A contract may be oral, written or electronic. Without a written contract the employer must give you a written statement of the principal terms – parties, start date, any fixed term and its grounds, probation, place of work, duties, pay and pay period, working hours – within seven days, and the rest within a month. Anna Andersson, hired in Tampere, asks for the collective agreement and the pension insurer to be named in the contract.

TermStatutory limit
Probation (koeaika)At most six months, or half of a fixed term; either side may cancel with immediate effect, but not on discriminatory grounds
Fixed termFrom 1 June 2026 a first contract with an employer (none in the previous five years) needs no reason and may last at most one year; otherwise a justified reason is needed, and repeated fixed terms are barred if the need for labour is permanent
Regular working timeAt most 8 hours a day and 40 a week; including overtime at most 48 hours a week on average over four months
OvertimeOnly with your consent each time; +50 per cent for the first two hours a day, +100 per cent after; Sunday work +100 per cent
RestAt least 11 hours between shifts and 35 hours a week; a break of at least 30 minutes on shifts over six hours

Source: Finlex (Employment Contracts Act) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 24 September 2026.

Holidays, family leave and what depends on the collective agreement

Annual holiday accrues at 2 days a month in your first year and 2.5 days a month once the employment has lasted at least a year by 31 March. The holiday credit year runs 1 April to 31 March and the summer season is 2 May to 30 September; untaken holiday is paid out when you leave. The holiday bonus (lomaraha) is not in any law – you get it only if your collective agreement says so, as do sick pay, paid family leave and public-holiday pay. Parental leave is 320 working days per child, 160 per parent with up to 63 transferable, to be used before the child turns two.

The 2026 changes: dismissal and notice periods

The dismissal reform of 1 January 2026 dropped the old 'proper and weighty' standard for reasons related to your person; a warning and a chance to correct your conduct are still required except for very serious breaches, and dismissal for economic reasons still requires the work to have diminished substantially and permanently. Notice periods are statutory minimums; collective agreements may differ.

Length of employmentEmployer gives noticeYou resign
Up to one year14 days14 days
One to four yearsOne month14 days
Four to five yearsTwo months14 days
Five to eight yearsTwo monthsOne month
Eight to twelve yearsFour monthsOne month
Over twelve yearsSix monthsOne month

Source: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 24 September 2026.

If you hold a work-based residence permit and lose your job, the protection period in force since 11 June 2025 gives you three months to find new work – six for specialists, EU Blue Card holders and anyone with two years on a work permit – and your employer must tell Migri (Finnish Immigration Service, in Swedish Migrationsverket) within 14 days. That does not apply to EU or Nordic citizens. Register as a jobseeker on your first day of unemployment, because benefit is paid only from that date: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens online through Job Market Finland with banking codes, everyone else in person at the municipal employment office. If your employer becomes insolvent, claim unpaid wages from pay security within three months of the due date.

Who recognises your qualifications in Finland?

Unregulated jobs are the employer's call: it judges whether your foreign degree is enough. Regulated professions need a decision from the competent authority.

ProfessionAuthorityFee and time
Teacher, early childhood education; public-sector jobs requiring a degree of a certain levelFinnish National Agency for Education (OPH)€495 from 1 January 2026 (€100 processing plus €395 decision); on average 3–4 months
Doctor, nurse, psychologist, physiotherapist and other health and social care professionsFinnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto), which took over from Valvira on 1 January 2026Fee-based; refused applications are charged; paper applications cost 20 per cent more; tel. +358 295 256 932, weekdays 9–15
Veterinarian; transport professionsFinnish Food Authority; TraficomAsk the authority
Food, serving, construction, hot work, security workSector card or passport from a short course with a testThe course provider
Work with childrenCriminal-record extract from the Legal Register Centre–

Source: the Finnish National Agency for Education, InfoFinland and the Finnish Supervisory Agency, read 24 September 2026.

Union membership is voluntary; fees are usually 1–2 per cent of pay and, from tax year 2026, no longer deductible (unemployment fund fees still are). SAK's free advice line for workers of foreign background, +358 800 41 4004, needs no membership. Joining an unemployment fund is a separate decision worth taking: with 12 months of work in the last 28 – the requirement since 2 September 2024 – it pays earnings-related allowance, higher than the benefit from Kela (Social Insurance Institution).

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Find your sector's collective agreement and compare the offer with its pay tablesBefore you sign
2Check probation, fixed-term grounds, hours, holiday, notice and insurer in the contractBefore you sign
3Get a tax card from Vero – otherwise 60 per cent is withheldBefore your first payday
4Regulated profession: apply to OPH or the Finnish Supervisory AgencyAs early as possible
5Decide on union and unemployment fund membershipIn your first month
6If you lose your job: register with the municipal employment servicesDay one of unemployment

Source: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Vero, OPH and Migri, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.