The Government aims to facilitate taking on employment by increasing the earnings disregard and loosening the conditions of mobility allowance. The purpose of the bill is to “temporarily increase encouragement to employment in order to secure the emergency supply during exceptional conditions in positions that are critical for the branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.” In practice, it means securing the availability of labour in agriculture and horticulture. The proposed amendments do not, however, limit to which employment they can be applied.

Protection of income was proposed to be increased temporarily from the present 300 euros to 500 euros per month and from 279 euros to 465 euros per four calendar weeks.

It is also proposed that mobility allowance could be temporarily paid for full-time employment, if the duration of the person’s commute at the beginning of employment is on average altogether over two hours per day instead of the present three hours or the person moves from a similar distance due to employment. There are no other amendments in the proposal. So the amendment would not concern training related to work, and e.g. the mobility allowance related to part-time employment will remain unchanged.

The exempt was increased from EUR 300 to EUR 500 for the application period of a month and from EUR 279 to EUR 465 for the benefit adjustment period of 4 calendar weeks. The increased exempt amount will apply for application periods beginning between 1 June 2020 and 31 October 2020.