Minister of Finance Urpilainen: Employment has a key role in strengthening public finances

She drew special attention to three trends that she considered to be of key importance in reforming Finland. The first was employment, which was also highlighted as important in the OECD report. Urpilainen reminded that growth and jobs are at the top of the Government’s agenda.

“Maintaining of our welfare system requires an effective labour market. We need work for job seekers, and workers for sectors that are badly in need of labour. Strong employment has a key role in strengthening public finances and delivering longer-term success,” said Urpilainen.

According to Urpilainen, a second aspect is responsible fiscal policy. She also noted that the OECD drew attention in its report to the importance of fiscal tuning in economic policy.

“In Finland, we are currently considering the scale and timing of the adjustmentrequired. The Government is committed to reducing borrowing, but the wise course is to consider carefully the timing of necessary measures while safeguarding economic growth.

As the third important aspect, Urpilainen spoke of growth in inequality. She considered to be valuable the OECD’s assessment of the significance of social equality in Finland’s success.

“The Nordic model has been shown internationally to be an effective social model in which an emphasis on equality has created for the economy and also more widely for society a “virtuous cycle” of development. It is worrying that equality, as measured by many indicators, is now growing globally.”



According to Urpilainen, Finland has made the right decisions and is moving in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done.

“All the keys are in our own hands. In order to safeguard the virtuous cycle of development in the welfare state, equality must be kept at the heart of social policy. We must fight against inequality in all the different forums of society.”

Further information: Special Adviser Matti Niemi, tel. 358 45 679 1717