Working in Finland as a French National: Right to Work, Salaries, Contract, Taxes and Contributions

Citizens of the European Union work in Finland from the moment they arrive, without a work permit. For a stay of more than three months, registration of the right of residence with Migri (the Finnish Immigration Service) relies on the status of employee, self-employed person, student or on sufficient resources; it costs €53 and the certificate remains valid until further notice (Migri). The page on living in Finland details these formalities, the personal identity code and the municipality of residence.

The guide to working abroad helps you prepare the departure on the French side, from the end of the contract in France to the procedures with the funds.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Tyosuojelu, page updated on 14 January 2026), Finland has no minimum wage law. Employers and employees negotiate pay in their contract, within the framework of sector-wide collective agreements. Some agreements are declared generally applicable: even an employer that is not a member of an employers’ organisation must then comply with their pay provisions; wholesale and retail trade is the example cited.

Where no agreement applies, the Employment Contracts Act requires a usual and reasonable wage for the work in question. InfoFinland specifies that employers’ organisations and trade unions have set the minimum wages in the agreements of each sector. For a specific offer, the applicable agreement is requested from the employer, who must state it in the written terms of employment.

On 24 November 2025, Statistics Finland published 2024 earnings for about 1.7 million full-time employees: the median monthly salary reaches €3,611 and the average salary €4,070. The lowest-paid 10% earn less than €2,477 a month and the highest-paid 10% at least €6,115. The level of education plays a part: the median salary of holders of a doctorate is €5,685.

The breakdown by gender appears in the table on the page. These figures cover non-financial corporations, financial institutions, public administrations and non-profit organisations; the 2024 statistic relies on a renewed method that includes small employers previously absent, which calls for caution when comparing with earlier years.

• Contract: it is in principle open-ended; a fixed-term contract is possible where circumstances justify it, such as a temporary post, a project or a seasonal need. A probationary period may be agreed at the start of the job; either party may end it, the employer having to justify its decision (InfoFinland). Without a written contract, the employer provides the terms of employment in writing.
• Working time: normal working time does not exceed 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week; overtime is paid at a premium of at least 50% (InfoFinland).
• Paid leave: the employee earns two working days of leave per full month of the reference period in the first year, then two and a half days per month from one year of continuous employment. The reference period runs from 1 April to 31 March, and a month counts if it includes at least 14 days or 35 hours of work (Tyosuojelu, page amended on 4 May 2026).

Collective agreements may provide rights above the statutory minimum, in particular for leave. To compare a Finnish offer with a job in France, the guide to secondment versus expatriation recalls the differences in status.

Salaries are taxed on a progressive state scale, to which a municipal tax and other levies are added. For 2026, Vero indicates an indexation of about 3.5% of the state scale brackets, a maximum marginal rate lowered to 52% (about 59% previously), an earned income tax credit raised to a maximum of €3,430 and a basic deduction for municipal tax raised to a maximum of €4,265. The exact municipal rate depends on the municipality of residence.

• Treaty of 11 September 1970 (in force since 1 March 1972): the salaries of a resident are taxable only in their State of residence, unless the employment is exercised in the other State, where they are then taxable (article 15). A stay not exceeding 183 days in the tax year, with an employer not resident in the State of activity and no cost borne by a permanent establishment, keeps taxation in the State of residence. Double taxation is avoided by exempting income taxable in the other State, while taking that income into account to calculate the rate (article 23).
• New treaty of 4 April 2023: its text, published by the French tax administration, repeats the same basic rule for employment income (article 14) and provides a tax credit to eliminate double taxation (article 21). It applies only to income of the years following the one in which it enters into force; the progress of the procedure can be checked on impots.gouv.fr, and the 1970 treaty remains applicable until then.

If in doubt about tax residence or about double taxation of the same job between the two countries, the tax office for non-resident individuals in France and Vero remain the points of contact.

In 2026, ETK publishes the following rates. An employee’s pension contribution is 7.30% of salary, with the employer paying 17.10% on average; the employee’s unemployment contribution is 0.89% and the employer’s is 0.31% or 1.23% depending on the payroll. The employee’s health insurance contribution, which covers care and the daily allowance, is 1.98% of gross salary, and the employer’s is 1.91%. The employer deducts the employee’s share at source and also pays occupational accident insurance, the amount of which varies by insurer.

• Employee: the total employee share comes to 8.19% for pensions and unemployment, plus 1.98% health insurance contribution.
• Self-employed: Migri asks, as supporting documents, for a trade register extract, accounts, tax decisions or a self-employed pension insurance certificate; the rates are confirmed with ETK and Vero.
• Seconded from France: the seconded employee stays in the French scheme with the A1 form and does not pay contributions in Finland for the duration of the secondment.

These rights open access to the regional care described in the page on the Finnish healthcare system.

A European framework agreement, applicable since 1 July 2023, allows an employee who teleworks less than 50% of their total time from a signatory State to remain attached to the social security scheme of their employer’s State. France and Finland are both signatories. The employer applies to the competent institution of its country with the employee’s agreement, and receives a portable A1 document (CLEISS, the French liaison centre for international social security).

Digital nomads and self-employed people settled in Finland fall under the Finnish scheme for their activity; the guide to digital nomad insurance presents the points of caution for this status.

Statistics Finland reports that the volume of gross domestic product rose by 0.2% in 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.3% on the previous quarter, driven mainly by strong industrial output, with growth in the value added of the manufacturing sector continuing since the end of 2025 (publication of 18 September 2026). The employment and unemployment figures appear in the “Economic indicators” block below.

• Currency: Finland uses the euro, which removes the exchange-rate risk for a salary paid in euros.
• Outlook: growth, inflation and unemployment forecasts are continuously updated in the “Economic indicators” block on this page.