3.11 Current debates and reforms
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Forthcoming policy developments
The new government programme for the years 2023-2027 – i.e. the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government (published on 20.6.2023) – names a long-term employment policy objective: ‘In order to improve the standard of living of Finnish people, accelerate sustainable growth and secure the financing base for the services of the welfare society, the Government aims to achieve an employment rate of 80 per cent by 2031. Efforts will also be made to increase the number of hours worked.’
In a shorter term the Government will ‘implement reforms to increase 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. In order to achieve its objectives, the government will implement a wide range of reforms to improve incentives to work, simplify the social security system, facilitate employment and provision of work, develop international recruitment, increase local bargaining in the labour market, improve wellbeing at work and the integration of work and family, and continue the reform of employment services.’ How this will affect young people still needs specification. The new government programme mentions young people in the context of employment policy only shortly, and as such: ‘Young 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.’ The new programme for youth work and policy, which will come in force in 2024, might expand on what the new government’s employment policies will mean for young people. (see Youth Wiki Finland 1.9 Current debates and reforms).
Ongoing debates
The Youth Barometer 2022 `Through crises’ (edited by senior researcher Antti Kivijärvi) was published in March 2023. Altogether 1,864 young people aged between 15 and 29 were interviewed by telephone for the survey. Among the other themes, the young people were asked to describe their experiences of uncertainty and insecurity from a personal perspective. Based on the abstract of the publication, ‘young people experienced most uncertainty and insecurity about their future, their income and their ability to get a job. Issues related to social relationships caused far less uncertainty and insecurity. Overall, experiences of uncertainty and insecurity in personal life were relatively rare. Less than a fifth of respondents experienced a lot or quite a lot of uncertainty or insecurity regarding all the aspects asked about. On a positive note, experiences of uncertainty and insecurity regarding personal life had decreased in almost all of the areas asked about, compared to previous surveys.’ The Youth Barometer is published yearly by the State Youth Council, the Finnish Youth Research Society and Ministry of Education and Culture. There are infographics in English available about the results of the barometer 2022, the publication also includes an abstract in English on pages 211-212.