Pensions up 2.6% in 2027, Kela home care model, Jämsä and Lahti jobs

Pensioners, parents and jobseekers all have something to watch this week. Pension increases for 2027 are confirmed, a possible change to home care allowance is only a proposal with modelled figures, and two construction sites show where work is available in a region with high unemployment.

1. Earnings-related pensions rise by about 2.6 per cent in 2027

The indexation figures for 2027 were confirmed on 23 October 2026 (TELA, the Finnish Pension Alliance, citing the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health):

Earnings-related pension index 3,184, an increase of about 2.6%. It applies to pensions already being paid and weights prices at 80% and wages at 20%. As an example, a €1,500 pension would rise by about €39 a month before tax.
Wage coefficient 1.773, an increase of about 3.6%. It adjusts past earnings when a starting pension is calculated and weights wages at 80% and prices at 20%.

A higher wage coefficient can mean a somewhat higher starting pension for someone retiring in 2027 than for a similar person retiring in 2026, all else equal. The best retirement date still depends on your career, accrual, taxes and plans, so check your own pension estimate. Note also that tax means take-home pay will not rise by exactly 2.6%. For the other benefit increase already confirmed for January, see our report on Kela benefits rising by 2.3 per cent.

2. Kela models a major change to home care allowance (proposal only)

Yle/STT reported on 27 October 2026 on Kela researchers’ calculations. The Ministry of Finance has proposed abolishing home care allowance; the model Kela tested adds three months of parental leave quota for each parent, six months in total. This is not enacted. The figures are microsimulation results and exclude municipal supplements.

Possible gains: families caring for a child at home until about 21 months could receive more. A two-parent family could gain up to about €1,000 if both parents use their quotas and the child starts early childhood education at about 1.5 years.
Little or no gain: if only one parent uses an additional quota, the advantage disappears at about 1.5 years.
Possible losses: families caring at home until the child is three could receive more than €5,000 less.
Why it matters: about 76% of families with children born in 2022 used the allowance.

3. Jämsä hopes a large data centre will ease high unemployment

Yle reported on 23 October 2026 that Jämsä’s unemployment rate was 15.6% in September, the third highest in Central Finland. In August there were more than 1,200 unemployed jobseekers and 27 vacancies. French company Sesterce plans an AI data centre campus at the former Kaipola mill, which it says could need up to 2,000 construction workers and create about 300 permanent jobs. It is recruiting for roles including project manager, commissioning manager, security manager and electrical engineer, and training talks with educational institutions have begun.

Important: the Regulatory and Supervisory Agency told Yle that no permit applications are pending yet. See our earlier report on the Sesterce plan.

4. Two Lahti construction sites employ about 1,300 people

Yle reported on 29–30 October 2026 that two sites in Lahti employ around 1,300 people:

TikTok data centre, Kiveriö (SRV): about 1,000 workers, 30–40% of them foreign from almost 30 nationalities. Completion is due by the end of 2027.
Fazer chocolate factory (Skanska): over 300 workers, about 15% foreign. It is due to open in 2028. Finnish is the main language on this site.

Construction had the most vacancies in Päijät-Häme in August (234, including 71 for electricians), yet unemployment in the region was 14.6% at the end of September against 11.8% nationally.

FGC perspective

Pensioners and people near retirement: the index helps with living costs, and the wage coefficient makes it worth comparing estimates for different retirement dates.
Parents: treat the Kela figures as a model of one option, not a decision. Plan nothing around them until the law is settled.
Jobseekers and foreign workers: data-centre and industrial construction can create work outside the Helsinki region, but announced projects are not vacancies. Language, qualifications and work authorisation vary by employer.