Economic and employment policy priorities

Espoo story: The employment of all working-age residents of Espoo fit for work will ensure the preconditions for the wellbeing of residents and the balance of the city economy.

Labour market matching refers to the compatibility of labour supply and demand. Employers in the metropolitan area are particularly short of experts in social services and health care, education and services, technology, trade, administration, law, information processing and telecommunications. Despite their efforts, 48% of Espoo-based companies have not been able to find suitable experts, while 9% of working-age Espoo residents are unemployed.

The member companies of the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce (2022) see the development measures for education and qualifications, closer cooperation between companies and educational institutions, eliminating incentive traps for accepting work, measures for finding employment for immigrants in Finland and increasing work-based immigration as ways to secure a competent workforce. Improving matching also requires, for example, a transparent knowledge base on the labour market and the development of employment services technology.

1. We define common goals and solutions leading to employment with education providers and representatives of working life.

   Despite their efforts, 48% of Espoo-based companies have not been able to find suitable experts, while 9% of working-age Espoo residents are unemployed. By strengthening cooperation between education and the labour market, we can better respond to the skills demands arising from changes in the labour market (skills shortage and skills mismatch).

   The Espoo Story: We will ensure that companies have a skilled workforce by investing, in particular, in improving the skills of jobseekers.

2. We design services that promote employment for employers, making them customer-oriented, easily accessible and effective.

   The threshold for hiring new employees will be lowered when services are easily available under one roof. We will maintain a high level of employment by cooperating with businesses in predicting their future recruitment needs and uncovering ‘hidden jobs’.

   The Espoo Story: We will promote employment through customer- and business-oriented services. By implementing the structural reform of employment and business services, we will ensure that Espoo offers the best services in Finland to both jobseekers and employers. 

3. Working in cooperation with employers, we build effective and sustainable employment pathways, especially taking residents who speak a foreign language residents into account.​

   Companies are concerned about the shortage of labour. At the same time, 9% of working-age residents and 20% of working-age foreign-language residents are unemployed in Espoo.

   The Espoo Story: The city’s vitality, the availability of labour and socially sustainable development will be ensured by attracting skilled individuals and their families to Espoo, improving the integration of immigrants and speeding up the process of finding employment. Espoo is Finland’s best city for integration.

4. We promote young people's access to the labour market through career guidance-like activities, training and employer cooperation.​

   Since the Covid-19 pandemic, youth unemployment has increased and is especially pronounced among foreign-language residents. A multi-professional low-threshold service targeted at young people helps them find employment services and join the workforce through supportive measures, if necessary.

   The Espoo Story: One of the city’s particular goals is to rapidly reduce youth unemployment. We will develop the path of young people from school to working life and ensure that the youth employment rate is among the highest in Finland.

5. We strengthen the prerequisites and motivation of companies to recruit jobseekers who speak foreign languages and those who have demand-specific work ability.

   According to several studies, Finnish employers prefer to hire a Finnish jobseeker over a foreign jobseeker, and the potential of jobseekers with partial work ability is not recognised. The measure will help us tackle the challenges posed by changes in the labour market (skills shortage, skills mismatch amidst the transformation of work and the labour market). 

   The Espoo Story: The employment of all working-age residents of Espoo fit for work will ensure the preconditions for the wellbeing of residents and the balance of the city economy.

The Espoo Story: Business-friendly Espoo will be a great place to live, renew oneself, work and do business.

Espoo is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Finland. Responding to the needs of residents, companies and communities in a growing and diversifying city requires a sustainable economy. The key factors in sustainable economic development are employment and strong companies. Tax revenue generated by the sustainable business of companies and high employment creates services and vitality.

The city will develop into a vibrant operating environment for companies and employers as the city's sectors, units, group companies, partners and networks are familiar with the needs of companies and employers and work well together to promote them.

A city that invests in its vitality offers

• customer-oriented business and employer services
• information and platforms for business development
• conditions conducive to sustainable business.

1. We develop services and provide information on them to meet the needs of international skilled families and experts.

   The willingness of international professionals to settle in Espoo is also influenced by factors related to their private lives: recreational services and opportunities, the urban environment and culture, day care and education – and whether services are available in English. We must provide sufficient information about the city and its many possibilities in a way that is easy to understand and culturally sensitive. eri mahdollisuuksista on tarjottava riittävästi, ymmärrettävästi ja kulttuurisensitiivisesti.

   The Espoo Story: Espoo will offer top talents and their families the best place to live. Our goal is to ensure that Espoo is the best place in the Nordic countries for expat employees. Espoo will have enough places in English-speaking early childhood education and schools. English will be used as the third service language in Espoo.

2. We promote the functioning of the labour market by ensuring the availability of high-quality early childhood education and care services.

   The current staff shortage in early childhood education poses work-related challenges to working-age parents and threatens the functioning of work communities. A well-functioning early childhood education system creates the conditions that parents need to reconcile work and family life. Children also benefit, as early childhood education creates a good foundation for growth and learning.

   The Espoo Story: Espoo is the top city for culture and education in Finland. Espoo on oppimisen ja sivistyksen kärkikaupunki. We will safeguard the quality of education and early childhood education and increase the rate of attendance in early childhood education.

3. In accordance with demand, we offer companies and urban organisations regional, business premise and other information that can be utilised in business operations and its forecasting.

   The city possesses information that is of interest to companies and that may even affect their decisions regarding their business operations or geographical location. A comprehensive understanding of the development of the business sector is needed when decisions related to urban development are made by the city. Information related to companies is produced by different sources and is currently fragmented.

   The Espoo Story: With the help of digitalisation, we will increase the openness of our activities, develop new platform solutions and speed up service processes.

4. We use partnerships to meet the business premise needs of companies.

   The lack of suitable premises affects companies’ abilities to operate and grow in Espoo. By working together with market operators and other partners, we can create new operating models for the flexible use of premises.

   The Espoo Story: Espoo provides services together with the entire Espoo community. Espoo will be known as the best Nordic city for start-ups and growth companies, and to support this, we will develop a growth company campus together with our partners.

5. We create models for continuous dialogue with our corporate customers and promote sustainable procurement in the city. 

   The city values its corporate customers, and this must be reflected in our attitudes and activities. It is important that we know our customers well and allocate our resources appropriately. City procurement plays an important role in economic development. The introduction of companies’ product and service development into procurement requires dialogue outside procurement processes.

   The Espoo Story: We will develop the city as an operating environment for entrepreneurship and business together with entrepreneurs.

The Espoo Story: Espoo strengthens its position as the most internationally interesting and attractive centre for innovation in science, art and economics in Northern Europe.

Espoo has an innovation culture that is also of interest to Europe. This is evident in, for example, the success of the European Capital of Innovation competition. A common innovation culture with Aalto University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and companies is built on 

• closeness and trust
• well-being
• shared values
• radical, multidisciplinary creativity. 

Our mission is to facilitate, enable and create the best possible conditions for cooperation.

Espoo is an international city of expertise and experts. The innovation community in Espoo produces the sixth largest number of patent applications among European cities. More than half of Finland's start-ups come from Aalto University. Innovations and solutions developed by actors in the region can often be scaled nationally or internationally.

1. We identify the most impactful business and research clusters and, if necessary, help in responding to their competence and development needs.

   By identifying and supporting the most effective sustainability-promoting clusters, we can boost their development and sustainable growth. At the same time, we can allocate city resources more effectively.

   The Espoo Story: Espoo is an internationally attractive capital of entrepreneurship and innovation. Our partners – Aalto University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and businesses in particular – will play a key role in this. Through diverse cooperation, the city will create a foundation for future work and new jobs. A particular goal is to strengthen the sectors that require a high level of expertise and the related support services in Espoo.

2. We increase encounters in the innovation community.

   Interaction serves as the catalyst for innovations. According to reports, Espoo-based companies would welcome more opportunities for networking. We must create forums and channels through which especially newly arrived international talents can meet other professionals in the community.

   The Espoo Story: We will develop the city as an operating environment for entrepreneurship and business together with entrepreneurs. 

3. We create a city-level process and structures for experimentation and testbed activities to promote business growth and the development of city services.

   More systematic targeting of experimental and testbed activities will increase the effectiveness of the activities, benefiting both companies and the city.

   The Espoo Story: Companies, organisations and other communities will be part of the innovative urban ecosystem and service provision.

4. We serve as a European experimentation and innovation hub for climate work in the EU mission programme.

   Espoo has been selected to participate in the EU Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. The Espoo community is developing solutions with a significant carbon handprint. As part of the EU’s mission programme, we will accelerate the systemic transformation towards a carbon-neutral city, strengthen competitiveness, and create sustainable growth.

   The Espoo Story: Espoo will achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.Cooperation with universities, research organisations, innovation activities and businesses will generate solutions with a significant carbon handprint that will help tackle the global climate challenge.

5. We support strengthening the green transition skills of SMEs and the capabilities of a sustainable economy.

   The involvement of SMEs is a key issue in the promotion of the green transition. At the initial stage, the EU’s accountability regulations mainly concern large companies, but these already need information on the activities of their supply chains and partners. Many SMEs need information and support to fulfil their accountability obligations.

   The Espoo Story: We develop Espoo in an economically, environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable manner.

The Espoo story: Espoo is Finland's best city for integration. Espoo is the best place in the Nordic countries for expatriates.

The availability of experts has been identified as one of the greatest challenges for employer growth. Despite their efforts, 48% of companies in Espoo have not been able to find suitable experts (2022). At the same time, one fifth of the foreign working-age population living in Espoo is unemployed. The unemployment rate for the rest of the working-age population is 9%. The employment of a growing population of foreign language speakers is one of the key factors in vitality, the availability of labour and the sustainability of public finances. This is particularly significant in Espoo, where foreign language speakers account for most of the population growth – 70-90% in recent years.

Employers also need specialised expertise that is not available in Finland. In addition to labour shortages, highly-skilled immigrants may facilitate growth in productivity. International competence strengthens innovations and entrepreneurship and supports the acquisition of international investments in Finland.

The Espoo story: Being a pioneer means challenging the status quo and having the courage to do things in a new way. Espoo is a leading city of learning and education.

More than half of Finland's patent applications are filed by the Espoo innovation community, and Espoo companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange account for nearly 46% of the stock exchange turnover. The success of the Espoo innovation community is central to sustainable growth not only in Espoo, but also throughout the country. Continuing development requires the ability to do and think about things in a new way. 

In addition, the requirements of changing working life increase the need for updating competence and continuous learning in all fields of work and business life.

The Espoo story: Espoo will achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. We are developing Espoo to be economically, ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable.

Building a carbon neutral society requires comprehensive change and ambitious goals that promote change in different sectors of society. Ideally, the green transition is the driving force behind new growth and the foundation of a sustainable economy and business. It creates opportunities for companies and actors in the Espoo innovation community to develop and commercialise green solutions.

In addition to ecological impacts, companies must pay particular attention to the different economic, social and cultural impacts in their own activities and the activities of their networks. Broad-based sustainable business is a prerequisite for the success of all employers. This requires, among other things, a sufficient skilled workforce for sustainable development and the updating of competence.

The views of the Economic Development and Employment Unit’s personnel on the direction, strengths and development targets of the unit’s work were surveyed with two questionnaires (December 2021 and March 2022). In addition, the extended management team of the Economic Development and Employment Unit discussed the weak signals affecting operations in a workshop organised by Sitra in January 2022.

Based on the data, a project plan was prepared and a project funding proposal was made to the Dynamic Espoo programme (March 2022). With funding from the programme, the city’s contract supplier, KPMG Oy, was engaged in the project (May 2022).

The contract supplier (KPMG Oy) interviewed representatives of the city’s sectors and external stakeholders about changes in the operating environment and the outlook for the economic development and employment policy (May–August 2022). The project team focused on interview materials, megatrends and changes in the city’s income base in a workshop led by KPMG (September 2022). In addition, a mobile strategy game was used during the Economic Development and Employment Unit’s personnel development and well-being day (September 2022) to identify the realisation of the Espoo Story’s values in the daily operations of the units.

It was decided to refine the preliminary operating environment analysis in workshops together with the sectors, units and partners.

According to the Espoo Story, Espoo is economically sustainable and offers competitive taxation. The city’s income base will change when social and health services move from the city to the Western Uusimaa wellbeing services county in 2023: The share of central government transfers in the city’s budget will increase significantly, and the relative share of real estate and corporation tax will increase. Municipal tax will remain the largest item of income.  In addition, the role of the city as a builder of vitality will increase when part of the responsibility for organising employment and business services is transferred from the state to municipalities in 2025.

Round table discussions between sector and unit directors addressed the change in the income base and how the city can strengthen the vitality of the changing operating environment through its own actions. The views were used as a basis for the planning of future workshops in the project.

According to the vision of the Espoo Story, Espoo is a pioneering, responsible and humane city that is a good place to live, learn, work and do business in and where residents can have their say in matters. According to the story, business-friendly Espoo is a great place to live, reinvent oneself, work and do business. We will develop the city as an operating environment for entrepreneurship and business in collaboration with entrepreneurs.

A high employment rate and dynamic business operations are key factors in strengthening the city’s economic base. When the city’s income base changes as a result of the wellbeing services county reform, the various actors in the city must improve their ability to work with companies in order to strengthen the economic base of the city. A strong economic base creates high-quality services and well-being for residents and businesses and implements the mission of the Espoo Story to make Espoo the most attractive city for entrepreneurship and innovation in Europe.

This workshop for the city’s sectors and partners discussed how we can together turn Espoo into the best possible operating environment for companies.

According to the Espoo story, the employment of all working-age Espoo residents fit for work will ensure the preconditions for the residents to feel well and the city economy to be balanced. According to studies, almost 10% of the city’s population is outside working life. At the same time, 45% of the companies located in Espoo say that the shortage of professionals is a significant obstacle to growth, and some of the city’s sectors cannot find employees.

This workshop for the city’s sectors and partners addressed the challenge of matching the demand and supply of labour and promoting employment.

According to the Espoo Story, Espoo is known worldwide as an innovation environment for science, art and the economy, the key actors of which are Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland together with other universities and companies. Espoo, together with the rest of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, drives economic growth in Finland. Nearly 50% of the turnover of the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange comes from companies located in Espoo, and 60% of Finnish patent applications are made in Espoo (2021). The innovations and solutions created in the region can often be scaled nationally or internationally. Espoo is also an international city of skills and experts. Of the employed people in Espoo, 16% have a foreign background. 53% of the employed people are specialists or experts.

This workshop for the city’s sectors and partners addressed the strengths and development targets of the local innovation ecosystem.

The final workshops of the project refined the results of the previous workshops and prepared a proposal for Espoo’s economic development and employment policy priorities.