You will accrue pension for periods of social security benefits, such as the daily allowances for parents and the earnings-related unemployment allowance. You also accrue pension for the home care allowance. To accrue pension for such periods, you must have received earnings from work at some point during your working life to an amount of at least 20,571.69 euros (in 2024) before you retire.
Please note that you do not accrue pension for your benefit income (that is, for your social security benefits) if you are drawing the following pension benefits at the same time:
- disability pension,
- years-of-service pension,
- old-age pension, or
- equivalent pension from abroad.
For periods on social benefits, pension accrues based on your annual earnings from work or your annual earnings under the Health Insurance Act used to calculate the social benefit in question. The share of earnings from work that entitles to pension varies depending on the benefit from 55 to 121 per cent.
You accrue pension for the following social security benefits:
- the earnings-related unemployment allowance, including the additional days of the allowance (until the retirement age of your age group);
- the pregnancy, special pregnancy and parental allowance (the parental allowance can also be paid as a partial allowance);
- the adult education subsidy;
- the job alternation compensation;
- the sickness allowance, the partial sickness allowance, the sickness allowance on account of an infectious disease;
- the special care allowance;
- the rehabilitation allowance; and
- the compensation for loss of earnings based on workers’ compensation and motor liability insurance (also known as LITA compensation).
The basic unemployment allowance and the labour market support paid by Kela are not based on your earnings. That is why you accrue no pension for these social benefits. However, they are taken into consideration when the projected pension component of the disability pension is determined.
The table below shows you how the most common social benefits contribute to your future pension.
| Situation | Social benefit based on which pension accrues | % of earnings taken into consideration |
| You become unemployed | Earnings-related unemployment allowance | 75% of the earnings that form the basis of the allowance |
| You go on parental leave | Pregnancy, special pregnancy and parental allowance | 121% of the earnings that form the basis of the allowance |
| You go on a job alternation leave | Compensation for alternation leave | 55% of the earnings that form the basis of the compensation |
| You fall ill | Sickness allowance | 62% of the earnings that form the basis of the allowance |
Example of pension that accrues for an earnings-related daily allowance
Your daily allowance is based on a monthly income of 2,878.91 euros (also called the basis for your allowance). Per day, your daily allowance is the basis for your allowance divided by the average number of workdays per month (21.5 days).
€2,878.91 ÷ 21.5 = €133.90
You receive the daily allowance for a total of 241 days, so the total amount of your daily allowance is calculated as follows:
€133.90 × 241 = €32,269.90
Pension accrues for 75% of your basis for the allowance.
€32,269.90 × 75% = €24,202.43
You accrue pension at a rate of 1.5 per cent of that amount. Your monthly pension is calculated by dividing the sum by 12.
€24,202.43 × 1.5% ÷ 12 = €30.25
You earn a pension of €30.25 per month for your daily allowance. Your earnings-related pension is also multiplied with the life expectancy coefficient determined for your age group.
Calculate the impact of family leaves on your earnings-related pension.
Pension calculator for periods of family leave