Government cuts | Mayor Vartiainen: The cuts will bring pressure to raise low wages in Helsinki

Helsinki mayor Juhana Vartiainen (kok) says government cuts could increase pressure to raise wages for low-wage city workers.

Vartiainen spoke in HS’s economic studio about how the purpose of the government’s budget is to encourage more work. In his opinion, more people should work full-time instead of part-time.

“It may very well be that this increases the pressure to raise wages in our city, especially in low-paid jobs.”

Vartiainen also said that he would work towards the possibility of “sliding upwards” salaries. Vartiainen said that he does not promise this, but said that he sees this kind of development in Finland.

Also the city councilor who participated in the same discussion Osmo Soininvaara (vihr) considered it important to raise wages, for example in welfare areas.

Soininvaara said that the high housing allowances in cities should ideally not be compensated with public funds, but with higher wages in the city.

In Soininvaara’s opinion, the state should give, for example, welfare areas more money so that they could pay higher wages in cities, i.e. in Helsinki, for example.

Vartiainen pointed out that salaries are not the government’s business.

“The market mechanism will gradually take the situation in the direction you wish,” Vartiainen told Soininvaara.

Vartiainen also expressed his concern about the stagnation of construction in Helsinki. According to him, the city is thinking about whether there are some ways in which Helsinki could keep the construction going, and a dialogue is also held with the government.

“It is difficult to come up with methods that do not also have harmful effects. But this is one of the most important things on my desk.”

Vartiainen said that Helsinki can influence, for example, the conditions under which it gives plots to developers.

“We are going to consider all means.”