Government to simplify service process of jobseekers and increase discretion of authorities

Employment services and the service process for jobseekers will be reformed to better meet individual needs, in line with the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government. The aim is that more people would find employment quicker. The Government proposes amendments to the legislation on the service process of jobseekers and the jobseeker profiles. At the same time, the sanctions system for unemployment security will be overhauled.

On 22 September 2025, the Government submitted to Parliament a legislative proposal concerning the service process of jobseekers, employment services and unemployment security sanctions in order to boost employment and address the labour market mismatch.

“The services for jobseekers must be as seamless and easy-to-use as possible.  The most important thing is that the service path of each jobseeker can be built to genuinely meet their needs. As the responsibility for promoting employment now lies with the regions, we must give the employment authorities more flexibility and discretion to do their work,” says Minister of Employment Matias Marttinen.

The legislative proposal implementing the Government Programme would ease the jobseeker’s service process by giving the employment authority more discretion in organising the process. In practice, the meetings between jobseekers and the employment authority would be scheduled as necessary based on individual needs instead of the current formal service process. The change would lighten the statutory service process of employment services so that the limited resources of employment authorities could be used more appropriately in future.

The proposal takes into account the objective stated in the Government Programme to utilise digitalisation and to improve the opportunities of private job placement agencies to obtain the necessary information on unemployed jobseekers in order to improve the efficiency of employment services. This would be achieved by increasing the degree of publicity of the jobseeker profiles published at Job Market Finland and by expanding their viewing rights.

As regards the obligation to apply for work, regulation would be simplified and certain exceptions would be abolished by including them in the criteria of the general obligation to apply for work. Going forward, persons employed part-time would also be required to apply for four jobs per month. In addition, the obligation of jobseekers to apply for a job indicated by the employment authority would begin earlier than at the moment.

The sanctions system under the Unemployment Security Act would be simplified by replacing the current four-stage system with a two-stage procedure. Jobseekers would lose their right to unemployment benefit after the first failure to apply for work or to fulfil another task related to employment services. In these situations, the right to benefits would be lost for seven calendar days. For the second failure, jobseekers would be imposed a duty to work for six calendar weeks, i.e. the right to unemployment benefits would cease until further notice. However, the jobseekers who had lost their right to benefits until further notice would be able to reclaim the right more easily than now. In addition, a text message service reminding jobseekers of upcoming deadlines and scheduled meetings will be introduced.

Municipalities, labour market organisations and other interest groups were consulted during the preparation of the proposal. The proposal is expected to have savings impacts on general government finances both through faster employment of jobseekers and more effective employment services.

The acts are largely meant to enter into force on 1 January 2026. However, the amendments to jobseeker profiles are scheduled to come into force on 1 September 2026.

The government proposal concerning the development of the service process for jobseekers and employment services is closely linked to the government proposal concerning general social security benefit prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Inquiries:
Teresa Salminen, Special Adviser (questions to the Minister of Employment), Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 7318 
Toni Ruokonen, Senior Specialist (Employment services), Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 213 
Anna Aaltonen, Chief Specialist (Employment services), Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 097 
Timo Meling, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Unemployment security), Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 049 084

The Ministry’s email addresses are in the format [email protected]