On 23 March 2023, the President of the Republic approved a legislative package on the reorganisation of public employment and business services. The responsibility for organising such services will be transferred from the central government to municipalities on 1 January 2025. The reform aims to create a service structure that promotes the rapid employment of jobseekers by utilising all opportunities offered by municipal services.

The Government proposes to transfer the services of Employment and Economic Development Offices (TE Offices) to municipalities on 1 January 2025. This historical reform aims to create a service structure that will contribute to rapid employment of jobseekers and increase the productivity, availability, effectiveness and diversity of employment and business services.

The consultation round for the draft legislative proposal of the TE services reform 2024 ended on 27 June 2022. A total of 373 statements were submitted by the deadline. Based on the feedback, the Ministerial Working Group on Promoting Employment outlined certain new policies on 7 July concerning, among other things, the responsibility of municipalities for organising services, the provision of services, and the funding model. The broad outlines of the proposal remain the same, and the proposal will next be submitted for legislative editing.

The Government is preparing amendments to the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration so that municipalities and wellbeing services counties would be reimbursed for the costs they incur for organising services to beneficiaries of temporary protection who have been granted a municipality of residence.

Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen will visit Berlin from 31 May to 2 June. The visit will focus on employment services, their transfer to the local level and the ways to attract international workforce. During the trip, Haatainen will meet Germany’s Minister of Labour and Social Affairs as well as members of Parliament’s Committee on Labour and Social Affairs.