Supplementary budget provides support for jobseekers and young people
On 2 June 2020, the Government reached an agreement on the fourth supplementary budget for 2020. “The measures we agreed on will support jobseekers and prevent the growth of unemployment during and after the coronavirus crisis,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.
Additional financing to support young people and a better match between jobs and workforce
“The coronavirus crisis has put many young people and recent graduates in a difficult situation: no summer jobs are available, or companies are unable to hire new employees due to lay-offs,” Minister Haatainen says.
An increase of EUR 60 million is proposed in the employment appropriations. The additional appropriation will be allocated to purchases of labour market training and services for young people, and for upskilling through joint purchases of training and coaching.
The appropriations for TE Offices will be increased by EUR 20 million to make sure services will be available for those in need.
In addition, EUR 1.5 million is proposed for the implementation of the ONNI project, which involves providing psychosocial support for young people. The additional financing enables fast-tracking a digital service through which support will be available to young people quickly and easily.
Additional financing of EUR 1 million is proposed for the Digital Employment follow-up project. The project will enable a better match between jobs and workforce in the real estate and construction sectors.
Sufficient resources for launching local government trials on boosting employment
Local government trials on boosting employment involve transferring certain tasks of the employment and economic development offices (TE Offices) to local governments. An additional appropriation of EUR 2.8 million is proposed in the supplementary budget for the implementation of these trials.
“The purpose of the additional appropriation is to provide sufficient resources for the local government trials and thereby to contribute to their successful implementation. This is particularly important now that the coronavirus crisis has caused a sharp rise in unemployment,” Minister Haatainen explains.
In the first phase, 20 regions would participate in the trials. During the trial, the participating regions would be responsible for providing advice on employment promoting services for customers, and for various guidance and service tasks.
The target group includes unemployed jobseekers, persons in employment and persons participating in employment-promoting services who are not entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance, as well as all those aged under 30, and all immigrants and foreign-language speakers.
Inquiries:
Timo Nevaranta, Special Adviser to the Minister of Employment, tel. +358 50 340 9483
Mika Niemelä, Director of Finance, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 506 2135