Increase in number of Finns with no income
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If a person is in poor conditions, and is unable to work or cannot find work, that person is in increasing danger of falling into the category of persons with no income at all.
There is a growing number of people in Finland who, earn no taxable income, such as wages or labour market support, and whose only money comes from municipal income support and housing support from the Social Insurance Institution (KELA).
KELA reports that in 2006 there were 11,700 such individuals, and in 2009 the number had risen to 22,600.
The reason for the increase in the number of people without income is the tighter rules imposed on labour policy in the 1990s.
An unemployed job seeker will more easily lose his or her labour market support temporarily, and this state of affairs may end up lasting several years. The matter has been analysed by KELA researcher Pertti Honkanen.
The most important legislative change in the matter took effect in 2006. The law requires that a person listed as unemployed should participate in various activation measures after 500 days of unemployment. Failing to do so, or violating the terms of labour market support in other ways, leads to loss of the benefit.
The activation measures are aimed at nudging the long-term unemployed back to the labour market, but reports suggest that this has not been very successful.
Many of those who are to be “activated” are unwilling to participate in the measures, or they cannot cope with the requirements, or drop out. The deadline comes as a surprise to many.
Young people fall into the predicament through rules of mandatory job training.
A law past already in the 1990s was aimed at preventing a situation in which a young person moves directly from school onto labour market support. The availability of free money could be blocked if the person in question has not studied for a profession, or has not worked long enough.
Most people with no income are young. In 2009 37 per cent of the group were under 25 years of age.
The proportion has nevertheless fallen, and the average age of those with no income as risen.
The ranks of those with no incomes include couples and families with children. In November 2008 these households included nearly 2,600 children under 18, Honkanen says in a survey on well-being put out by Statistics Finland.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 13.6.2011 - TODAY |
 Increase in number of Finns with no income |
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