3.11 Current debates and reforms
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Nuorisotutkimusseura ry / Ungdomsforskningssallskapet rf
Finnish Youth Research Society
Kumpulantie 3 A
FI-00520 Helsinki
Tel: +358 44 4165388
E-Mail: office@youthresearch.fi
Website:
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Forthcoming policy developments
Forthcoming policy measures aim to improve the employment situation of young people. The Government budget session - package of measures to boost employment (in Finnish) states that 30 million euros will be reserved for an employment voucher for young people. The voucher is available for companies that commit to employing 18–29-year-old young people for at least six months. The support should be targeted for young people with little or no previous work experience. See the press release by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment for more information on the contents of the Government’s budget proposal for 2026. The budget proposal will be submitted on Monday 22 September.
On 3 September, Helsingin Sanomat released an interview article [t]here are thousands of unemployed young people, Minister for Employment Marttinen offers a new measure for those in the most difficult situation (Löytömäki & Pelli, 2025, in Finnish). In the interviews, the suggested voucher received generally positive feedback from young students as well as researchers.
The forthcoming policy measures are intertwined with the Government Programme 2023–2027. The programme's objectives include achieving ‘an employment rate of 80 per cent by 2031’ and ‘[e]fforts will also be made to increase the number of hours worked.’ More immediate measures include increasing ‘employment by at least 100,000 employed people.’ The programme also mentions that ‘the aim of this growth in employment is to strengthen general government finances by more than EUR 2 billion. Regarding young people, the government programme states that ‘[y]oung people under 30 years of age will be quickly referred to employment services. At the same time, sufficient services and personal encounters will be ensured.’
Ongoing debates
During Spring 2024, there has been discussion about the difficulties that young people or, for example immigrants who have finished their Finnish degrees, have expressed they have in searching for a job in Finland. In the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, after several articles where young people were telling about those difficulties, a column (2.3.2024) written by journalist Roosa Welling was titled as ‘It is too difficult to get a cinema cashier job’ (in Finnish). According to her, to receive a job is often so difficult that a young person applying for their first job might get discouraged. Based on the column, which reflected on earlier articles about the same theme, there are several shortcomings, such as even quite simple jobs having a manifold applicating process, and having so many applications that the employers do not read all of them, thereby not responding to the applicants. In the piece of news of the National Broadcasting Company (YLE) ‘200 applications and 3 interviews: Foreign grads struggle to get jobs’ (8.1.2024). The article describes how ‘work-based immigration is growing, but at the same time educated people in their prime are leaving Finland over a lack of career prospects.’