Minimum Wage in Finland: How Pay Floors Work (2026)

Quick answer: Finland has no statutory minimum wage. Minimum pay is set sector by sector in collective agreements (työehtosopimus, often shortened to TES) that employers' organisations and trade unions negotiate, according to InfoFinland. About 160 of these agreements are universally binding (yleissitova), which means every employer in the sector must follow them, including employers that do not belong to an employers' organisation, according to the Finnish occupational safety and health authority. You find the one for your job by sector on Finlex. If no agreement applies, the law requires reasonable normal pay for the work. Separately, non-EU workers applying for the standard work permit need at least €1,600 gross a month in 2026, according to Migri.

The practical upshot: a Finnish job has a pay floor, but you have to find out which document sets it. This guide covers how the system works, how to find your agreement, what happens when there is none, and the separate salary thresholds for residence permits.

How Pay Floors Work Without a Minimum Wage Law

The occupational safety and health authority's pay guidance puts it plainly: there is no minimum wage law in Finland. Employer and employee can agree pay freely in the employment contract, but that freedom is limited by the wage provisions of the applicable collective agreement. An employer cannot contract out of an agreement's minimum wage.

An agreement can bind an employer in two ways:

• Through membership. If your employer belongs to an employers' organisation that signed a collective agreement, its wage provisions bind the employer on that basis.
• Through universal applicability. Some agreements are confirmed as universally binding in their sector, so they bind every employer in it. The same page gives the wholesale and retail trade agreement as an example.

The legal basis is Chapter 2, Section 7 of the Employment Contracts Act (55/2001). It requires employers to observe at least the provisions of the national collective agreement considered representative in the sector, covering the work you do or the nearest comparable work. Any term of your employment contract that conflicts with that agreement is null and void, and the agreement's provision applies instead. So if your contract states a wage below the agreement rate, the agreement rate is what you are owed.

Universal applicability is confirmed by the Committee for Confirming the General Applicability of Collective Agreements, which operates under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, according to Finlex.

What Applies When There Is No Collective Agreement

Some sectors have no valid collective agreement. In that case, InfoFinland says the employer and employee agree the wage between themselves, and the pay must be normal and reasonable: the same as others receive for the same or similar work.

Chapter 2, Section 10 of the Employment Contracts Act covers the case where nothing was agreed: the employee must be paid "a reasonable normal remuneration for the work performed". The Act does not define "usual" or "reasonable". The occupational safety and health authority says the work you do is the basis for the estimate, that published statistics such as Statistics Finland's wage data and the pay tables of a comparable (non-binding) collective agreement can serve as references, and that in a dispute a court decides case by case.

Two related rules from InfoFinland matter for newcomers:

• If your job has a probationary period, the employer must pay you a normal wage during it.
• Working without pay is legal only in employment-services work trials, voluntary work, or practical training that is part of your studies. An unpaid "trial shift" outside those cases is not.

How to Find the Collective Agreement for Your Job

1. Read your contract or written terms. Under Chapter 2, Section 4 of the Employment Contracts Act, if your written contract does not set out the principal terms, your employer must give you a written account of them, and it must name the collective agreement applicable to the work. That item must be provided within one month of your start date. For what else to check before signing, see our guide to Finnish employment contracts.
2. Ask to see it at work. The same Act (Chapter 13, Section 10) requires employers to make the generally applicable collective agreement freely available to employees at the workplace.
3. Search Finlex. Finlex lists every generally applicable agreement, browsable by year and alphabetically. The agreements are published in Finnish and Swedish, according to tyosuojelu.fi. Which agreement applies usually depends on the sector your employer operates in, compared against each agreement's scope.
4. Look for English material. For posted workers, tyosuojelu.fi keeps sector pages for construction, industry and transport. The construction page matches job titles (carpenters, painters, pipefitters, excavator operators and others) to the right agreement, with English leaflets for several of them. The authority's pay page also notes that trade unions publish pay details for their sectors.
5. Call the authority. The occupational safety and health telephone service on 0295 256 808 gives advice on employment relationships, including pay, in English on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:00 to 12:00. It advises both employees and employers.

When you open the agreement, look for its pay provisions. The posted-worker guidance notes that the applicable agreement determines the hourly or monthly salary, contract pay and job-specific pay components.

The Finnish occupational safety and health authority's FAQ adds one more rule: if your sector has no generally applicable agreement but your employer is a member of an employers' association, the normally applicable agreement for that sector must be applied if one exists.

Salary Floors for Work-Based Residence Permits (2026)

If you are a non-EU citizen coming to Finland to work, Migri applies its own salary thresholds. These are permit conditions, not a national minimum wage. Figures from Migri's income requirement page:

Details for the employed-person permit, from Migri's permit page and income requirement page:

• Evening and night work supplements do not count towards the €1,600.
• Up to 50% of your salary may consist of fringe benefits, such as a company car or employer-provided housing.
• You can combine several jobs, including part-time ones, but a zero-hours or on-demand contract does not qualify.
• For part-time work, Migri calculates working hours × hourly wage × 4.3. For example, 25 hours a week at €15 an hour gives 25 × 15 × 4.3 = €1,612.50, just above the threshold.
• When you apply for an extended permit, Migri checks the Incomes Register to confirm you were actually paid at least an average of €1,600 a month and that the reported terms of employment were met.

Migri's guidance for employers states that a full-time employee's salary must be at least the minimum in the applicable collective agreement, and that where no agreement exists, the salary must match the level paid to others in the labour market doing similar work. Migri reviews its thresholds every year. If your salary is below €3,937, the specialist page directs you to the employed-person permit instead. Our Migri residence permit guide covers the application steps.

Payslips and Paydays

Under Chapter 2, Section 16 of the Employment Contracts Act, pay goes into the bank account you designate, cash is allowed only for compelling reasons, and each payment must come with a calculation showing the amount and how it was determined. According to InfoFinland, wages are usually paid once a month or every two weeks, and if payday falls on a weekend or holiday, the money arrives on the previous weekday. For how gross pay turns into net pay, see what to expect from a Finnish salary.

If You Are Paid Less Than the Agreement

The steps below come from InfoFinland and the occupational safety and health authority:

1. Check every payslip, including overtime and Sunday pay.
2. Ask for a correction from your supervisor immediately, and in any case before the next payday. The authority publishes demand forms for outstanding pay, and you should keep a copy of any claim you send.
3. Escalate to your trade union. If you are not a member, ask your workplace's employee representatives or a legal aid office.
4. Raise discrimination if it applies. Being paid less than Finnish colleagues can be discrimination against foreign employees; the telephone service or your union can advise.
5. Use pay security if the employer cannot pay. Apply within 3 months of the date your pay should have been paid.

An occupational safety and health inspector cannot file a lawsuit for you or act as your legal counsel. If no agreement is reached, a court is the last resort. If you are still looking for work, our guide to job hunting in Finland as a foreigner covers where international hires find roles.