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The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report for 1 June 1998 to 31 May 2000, as well as information supplied in response to previous comments.

1. Article 1 of the Convention. The Government states that GDP grew by 5.9 per cent in 1997, 4.7 per cent in 1998 and 3.5 per cent in 1999. Employment rose by about 2.25 per cent per year from 1995-99. The employment rate reached 66 per cent in 1999. Growth in employment was mainly in industry, business services and construction. Part-time employment as a percentage of total employment increased from 11.4 per cent in 1998 to 12.1 per cent in 1999. Unemployment decreased from 11.4 per cent in 1998 to 10.2 per cent in 1999, with 10.7 per cent for women and 9.8 per cent for men. Long-term unemployment decreased to 27 per cent of total unemployment in 1999.

2. Unemployment among older workers has decreased only slightly. The Government is concentrating its employment services (training and rehabilitation) on 55-59 year old jobseekers. It has changed the law to make employers responsible for paying unemployment pensions for older workers, as an incentive to retain them. The Government also has raised the lower limit to retire from 58 to 60, and removed measures that penalized older workers who accept low-paid temporary work. The Government has established the National Programme on Ageing Workers to boost employment of older people and conduct research on issues of discrimination against older workers and early retirement. The Committee notes this information with interest and requests further details on the outcome of these efforts to increase employment of older workers.

3. Other structural problems requiring more specific action include repeated unemployment, long-term unemployment and increasing labour and skills shortages in some professions. The Government mentions the following programmes: the Special Quality Strategy 1999-2001; the Workplace Development Programme to upgrade skills, improve organization and productivity of enterprises and improve the quality of life of workers; and the programme for conversion training which builds on early studies and work experience for professions with bottlenecks. Please provide further information on the impact of these programmes on employment promotion. The Government also briefly mentions the EQUAL programme for target groups. Please provide further information on which groups are targeted, the specific programmes involved and their impact on employment promotion for these groups.

4. Article 2. The Government states that a European Union peer review undertaken in 1999 determined that reform of the labour market had been successful and results were mostly positive, but that too little attention has been paid to influencing the functioning of the labour market and labour demand. Consequently, Action Plan 2000 aims to ensure the efficient functioning of the labour market, enhance the availability of jobseekers and encourage older workers to continue working two to three more years. It sets the goal of raising the employment rate to 70 per cent. The Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK) considers that the Government is not able to make proper use of experiences from projects implemented with support from the European Social Fund in drafting and implementing education and social policy or in anticipating the skills needs of business and industry. However, the Government states that the Ministry of Labour launched a project in 1999 to systematically assess the effectiveness of employment policy. The preliminary proposal establishes four key perspectives for assessments: effectiveness, process, customer, and staff. The assessment from the point of view of effectiveness was finished in 2000, and looked at employment effects, effects on functioning of the labour market, effects on equality of opportunity and effects in the workplace. Please continue to provide information on these assessments and any follow-up action taken.

5. Article 3. The Committee notes that the social partners and other representatives contributed to preparing the Action Plans for 1999 and 2000, and participated in monitoring implementation of the previous plans. Furthermore, the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), STTK, the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland (AKAVA) and the Commission for Local Authority Employers (KT) are all satisfied with the improvements in tripartite cooperation in preparing and monitoring the Action Plan for Employment.

Lastly, the Committee notes the following comments supplied by the social partners:

-  The SAK and the STTK consider that the active employment policy lacks sufficient funding for the number of unemployed jobseekers and the statutory duties imposed on the employment service. The heavy caseload of employment officers makes it impossible to direct sufficient active measures to the long-term unemployed and those in danger of exclusion who need personal services.

-  The SAK also considers that the Government has moved back to more passive measures to address unemployment.

-  The STTK adds that, in its view, self-motivated training is a failure for unemployed persons. The STTK criticizes the Government’s tightening of conditions for part-time supplement at the same time as employment policy is stressing the importance of keeping older workers in employment longer. It welcomes the sectoral analysis of labour needs that the Government has started and would like to see the immediate launch of the sectoral employment and labour needs programmes.

-  The STTK notes that unemployment for women is about the same as before and fixed-term contracts are still common in the public sector. The KT states that there is always a need for replacement staff in female-dominated sectors such as local government. Female employees are constantly offered fixed-term contracts but, on the positive side, work is always available.

-  The AKAVA considers that employment policy is increasingly split between measures directed at those doing well in the labour market, to prevent bottlenecks, and those in danger of exclusion. The need to continuously upgrade the skills of the employed requires other sources of funding besides the Government.

The Committee would appreciate receiving further information on actions taken by the Government in the light of these comments.