Minister of Employment Harakka: Impact assessments and a better situational picture of employment drive employment promotion

The Ministerial Working Group on Promoting Employment met for the fourth time on 11 October 2019.

Minister of Employment Timo Harakka commented on the outcomes of the meeting: “We can make the employment promotion measures more effective by forming a better shared idea of the current situation in employment and by preparing impact assessments.”

The ministerial working group examined the employment promotion measures decided in the government budget session and discussed the state of the impact assessments of the measures. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Finance are currently working on an employment impact assessment for each measure. The ministerial working group also heard a presentation on the impact of industrial policy on employment.

In January 2020, the tripartite working groups working under the ministerial group will submit a progress report to the government evening session. At the same time, further preparations will be outlined in advance of the government spending limits discussion in the spring, by which time the employment impact of the measures will also have been assessed.

Situational picture of employment: often the impact of measures is only visible in the long term

The impact of policy measures promoting employment is not independent of the economic cycle. Finland's economic growth is restricted both by the global slowdown in growth and by limits to the labour supply. In the structural reforms of employment policy, it is important to take into account the long-term perspective.

“Unfortunately, the long-term challenges affecting our labour supply are not about to become any easier to tackle,” says Minister Harakka.

“We have recognised that in our toolbox we have short-term, medium-term and long-term means to promote employment. We can achieve results rapidly, for example, by streamlining the work permit procedure and by reforming the system of pay subsidies. By contrast, measures for areas such as skills development and the employment of people with impaired capacity to work will only have an impact in the longer term,” the minister says.

Next major decisions in the government spending limits discussion and budget session

“We are now determined to promote the measures agreed in the government budget session. The next opportunities to make more decisions will be in the government's spring session on spending limits and in the autumn budget session,” says Minister Harakka.

The Government aims at a 75 per cent employment rate and an increase of at least 60,000 in the number of people in employment by the end of 2023. In the autumn of 2020, the Government must be able to show that it can put in place decision-based measures corresponding to 30,000 new people in employment.

Inquiries:
Jenni Karjalainen, Special Adviser to the Minister of Labour, tel. +358 40 751 5496