Birth rate | “Responsibility is pushed to young women” – Young MPs knock out tens of thousands of baby bonuses

Under The members of parliament who entered the parliament at the age of 30 this election period do not consider the proposal of the population policy report published on Thursday regarding financial incentives for first-time mothers to be a reasonable way to increase the birth rate.

According to the report, the state could develop a financial incentive for women who give birth before turning 30. The incentive would correspond to approximately EUR 10,000–30,000.

“The survey is part of the continuum in which the responsibility for increasing the birth rate is pushed to young women, when there are quite a lot of other people who are affected by this issue,” Elisa Gebhardt (sd) evaluates the report.

According to him, it also leaves many out of the incentive: for example, male couples or those who want to become mothers themselves, and female couples who do not have time to wait in lines for public fertilization treatments or can afford expensive private treatments.

“In principle, the show is quite peculiar: the fact that the incentive would only be aimed at the other party, i.e. the party giving birth, is indeed problematic”, Pinja Perholehto (sd) on the other hand states.

According to the proposal, the incentive could apply to, for example, a mortgage, a student loan, taxation or pensions or several of these. Perholehto also wonders about this.

“If an incentive is tied to, for example, a mortgage or something else, it requires that a person must get that loan and get into debt before receiving the incentive.”

From the government side Miko Bergbom (ps) also questions where the funding for such an incentive would come from:

“Of course, everyone would like to distribute as much money as possible to the family with children, but are there any financial conditions for that?”

Rkp’s Henrik Wickström too is critical:

“I wouldn’t immediately go ahead and promise that this would be a good thing. In the municipal field, there have been cases where if you move to the municipality or have a child, you get a financial carrot, but at least they haven’t brought about a quick change”,

In the investigation there was also a lot of good, points out Eemeli Peltonen (sd). For example, he raises working life measures: the report states, for example, that employment and a stable livelihood support families with children.

“In my opinion, this is also a message to the government that instead of various weakening of working life, it might be worthwhile to start thinking about how this reconciliation of family and working life can be achieved better than at present,” says Peltonen.

He also points out from the report that if actions are to be prepared, it must be done in strong interaction with the young people themselves.

Ramble on the lines are Gebhard and Perholehto. According to them, stable working conditions are a significantly more significant factor for those considering having a child than a financial incentive.

“Uncertain work situations, such as fixed-term employment, are exactly the things that make people postpone having children. Here, the government is taking exactly the opposite measures,” says Gebhard, referring to the government’s intentions to facilitate fixed-term employment and weaken dismissal protection.

“Basically, society should be built in such a way that social security is sufficient in all situations, instead of paying one side of the parents some kind of strange special money,” Perholehti continues.

Basic Finns Bergbom reminds that although the government program outlines the facilitation of fixed-term employment relationships, it also outlines the prevention of chaining of fixed-term employment relationships.

“This is also a much broader issue than just a question related to part-time jobs or permanent work,” says Bergbom.

That’s why he thinks it’s good that the matter is clarified.

“The statistical fact is that the birth rate has decreased for almost the entire 2000s and we are at quite dramatic low numbers at the moment. At this rate, we will eventually run out of Finns,” says Bergbom.

Wickström advocates also highlighting the responsibility of employee and employer organizations and suggests that they could work together more than currently to find ways to ease the hectic work of young parents.

“The most important thing in terms of this issue, however, I personally see is the belief in the future, or the lack of it in many people at the moment. We should really find solutions for that,” says Wickström.

According to him, not only a stable financial situation, but also good mental health services play an important role in this.