According to the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, the problems of the long-term unemployed who are able to work, for example, are a greater obstacle to employment than financial incentives.
Social- and the Minister of Health Hanna Sarkkinen (left) says he considers the employment package agreed by the government on Friday to be “balanced”.
“There are things that taste better to us and things that taste worse,” he says, referring to the Left Alliance’s own positions.
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The government agreed on measures to strengthen public finances by at least EUR 110 million. The key measures are the so-called euroisation of the employment security condition and the tightening of the job search obligation for those studying for unemployment security. The latter, in particular, was difficult for the Left Alliance.
Instead, Sarkkinen praises the government’s decisions, which are not direct employment measures. The government is launching a reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which aims to take better account of psychosocial stressors and reduce disability retirement. In addition, the government intends to strengthen the capacity of occupational safety and health authorities to address underpaid pay.
“These are, in my view, significant development projects for the quality of working life. But it is certainly challenging to bring all of these into law during this term of government, ”says Sarkkinen.
Left Alliance was not excited about all the employment decisions made during the government term, such as the removal of the retirement tube for the elderly and the tightening of the job search obligation for the unemployed. On the other hand, Sarkkinen praises, for example, the decision to expand compulsory education.
“The whole thing looks like government parties. We have quite different ideology entry angles in employment policy. As a result, we have taken action to address the supply of labor and, on the other hand, to strengthen people’s ability to work and create employment conditions, as well as measures to increase the demand for labor on the economic policy side. ”
In Sarkkinen’s opinion, the focus should be shifted away from economic incentive traps and solving them, for example by tightening unemployment security, throughout Finnish employment policy.
“We have had high levels of long-term unemployment for a long time. One should go see what the real barriers to employment are at the individual level. There are many reasons, of course, but there are problems with working capacity. And, of course, there are also incentive problems for those in bailouts and over-indebtedness. They will not be solved by cuts in unemployment security. ”
Sarkkinen refers, for example, to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD view, according to which, instead of the level of social benefits, the main reasons for unemployment in Finland are the health problems of the unemployed – especially mental health problems – and the lack of suitable job opportunities. Still, Sarkkinen does not deny that financial incentives can also affect employment.
“But as long as we have a welfare state and a social security system, there will always be some kind of incentive trap somewhere. That is why I think we should focus on more than just this one issue, which may not even be the most important part of employment policy. ”
Former Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Left Alliance Aino-Kaisa Pekonen challenged estimates of the positive effects of social security blackmail based on Ministry of Finance research. Pekonen said that he does not believe, for example, that the removal of the pension tube will increase the employment of the elderly. Sarkkinen does not take the Ministry of Finance’s estimates as strongly as his party colleagues.
“I would say that impact assessments are probably some kind of partial truth. They tell us about one side of employment, but they are not able to give the whole picture of employment policy and the impact of different decisions, “he says.
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