From a wage earner to an entrepreneur

If you make the transition from a wage earner to an entrepreneur, you should also switch from a wage earners’ unemployment fund to an entrepreneurs’ unemployment fund (Entrepreneur Fund). Your earning-related security will not be interrupted if you transfer from an unemployment fund for employees to the Entrepreneur Fund within a month after launching your company.

You should not stay as a member of a wage earners’ unemployment fund, as it will not accumulate your daily allowance. Moreover, the previously earned daily allowance entitlement ends when your business activities have lasted for more than 18 months. In other words, you can receive unemployment allowance from an unemployment fund for entrepreneurs if you become unemployed after working as an entrepreneur for less than 18 months, and you do not fulfill the employment condition for entrepreneurs yet. In this case, your unemployment allowance is still based on your income that you received as wages while still being a member of the wage earners’ unemployment fund.

Please note that you will need a statutory pension insurance for entrepreneurs. These include YEL and MYEL. The annual income of your pension insurance should be at least 15 481 euros (in 2026).

Your entrepreneurship should not affect the unemployment security of your family members if they do not own any shares in your company. 

If your family members own shares in your company, the employment official may also interpret them as entrepreneurs. In that case, your entrepreneurship may affect the unemployment security of your family members.

Find out whether your family member should have YEL insurance for entrepreneurs or TyEL insurance for employees. If your family member is a member of an unemployment fund for wage earners, find out whether they should switch to an unemployment fund for entrepreneurs.

The employment official determine on a case-by-case basis whether a co-owner or the entrepreneur’s family member is an entrepreneur.