Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries: Job Market Finland one of the ways to reach 80% employment rate

The publication by the Permanent Secretaries emphasises that “services supporting employment should be improved, and progress could be made e.g. through a digital Job Market Finland, reform of continuous learning, and growth services encouraging capacity for renewal. To raise the employment rate, the work must be attractive and the workforce skilled and able to work.” 

Increasing employment-based immigration and improving the employment rate of immigrants already in Finland are also central ways of increasing the employment rate. Utilising the expertise of all demographic groups and attracting new skilled people to the country, integrating them and keeping them here requires seamless, long-term cooperation between the state, towns and cities, educational institutions, businesses and other players. The Permanent Secretaries note that programmes that have been launched to increase employment-based immigration and develop good demographic relations are quite appropriate, but they will be inadequate in the long term and should be strengthened. 

Continuous development of one's personal competence is important to everyone 

Job Market Finland is also related to another entity outlined by the Permanent Secretaries, competence building. In the future, continuous learning must cover all demographic groups. The current systems for competence building, education and services must provide people with equal opportunities at all stages of the human lifecycle. Accumulation of adult education in only part of the population presents a challenge to equality. In the future, we must be able to raise everyone’s level of education and skills and provide them with the capacity for lifelong learning. 

One of the key contents of Job Market Finland will be identification of one's personal competence and gaps in it. In the future, based on a jobseeker's work background, skills and interests, Job Market Finland could, for example, propose suitable training paths to professions with good prospects. 

Opportunities for Finland (Finnish Government 2019)