Local government pilot on employment to begin in Espoo

19.3.2021 11.51

The local government pilot on employment will begin in Espoo on 1 March 2021. 18,000 jobseekers will be included in the pilot.

More effective employment services from local starting points

Finnish employment services are going through exciting times in many ways. On 1 March, the local government pilot on employment will begin, where a large part of the TE Office’s clients will be transferred to the employment services of the pilot municipalities. The experiment will seek ways to improve the access of jobseekers to work, education and other services. The aim is also to better address the causes of long-term unemployment. The TE Office will inform the matter to the clients being transferred to the municipal pilot in person, and the transfer does not require any action on the part of the client.

In Uusimaa, the pilot includes Helsinki, Vantaa–Kerava, Espoo, Porvoo and Raasepori–Hanko. A total of 92,000 clients in Uusimaa will be transferred to the five municipal pilots. In Helsinki, for example, slightly less than 50,000 jobseekers will be transferred to the municipal employment services. In Vantaa and Kerava, over 21,000 jobseekers will be transferred to the municipal employment services and 18,000 in Espoo.

Jobseekers who are under the age of 30, native speakers of a foreign language or not entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance will become clients of the municipalities. Jobseekers who receive earnings-related unemployment allowance, employed jobseekers, companies and, of course, all jobseekers of Uusimaa whose municipality of residence is not included in the local government pilot on employment will remain as clients of the Uusimaa TE Office.

TE services and municipal services to be provided flexibly under one roof

Clients included in the pilot will receive the services they previously received from the TE Office from their municipality. The TE Office’s familiar, employment-promoting services do not as such change, but access to services becomes easier and faster. In other words, the client can receive TE services, other employment-promoting services and health, social, educational and entrepreneurial services under one roof. Clients will also be assigned with a municipal worker in charge of their affairs to support their search for work and to provide comprehensive assistance.

“This experiment is necessary because the causes of unemployment are becoming increasingly diverse. We need more individual solutions for finding employment. Jobseekers being transferred to the pilot will be covered by a completely new type of service planning,” says Hilla-Maaria Sipilä, Head of Employment Services at the City of Espoo, Ilkka Haahtela, Head of Immigration and Employment Affairs at the City of Helsinki and Susanna Taipale-Vuorinen, Head of Employment Services at the City of Vantaa.

New solutions for the availability of skilled labour

The municipalities have harnessed their extensive networks for the service model, such as Kela, educational institutions, companies, organisations and service providers. The pilot provides municipalities with an excellent opportunity to more agilely match up employers’ competence and labour needs, local training offering and jobseekers’ employment and training needs.

Uusimaa TE Office and ELY Centre to support the local government pilots on employment in their new task

The TE Office will retain some tasks regarding the clients being transferred to the local government pilot on employment, such as issuing unemployment security statements and selecting participants for labour market trainings.

“All new jobseekers will also continue to register as jobseekers in the electronic ‘Oma asiointi’ service or at the TE Office, including the clients being transferred to the local government pilot on employment,” says Hilkka Koukkunen, Project Manager at Uusimaa TE Services. 

The Uusimaa ELY Centre also supports the work of the local government pilots on employment and TE Office in many ways.

“The ELY Centre, for example, procures several coaching, training and assessment services, which are available to both the TE Office and pilot clients,” says Henna Koivula, Development Manager at the Uusimaa ELY Centre.

In addition, the ELY Centre supports the activities of the local government pilots on employment by producing statistical data on the development of the employment situation for use by the municipalities.

Aiming at a more efficient service model

The aim of the pilot is also to develop new types of services and to make the service models more efficient.

“Concrete work will start in March and services will be developed throughout the pilot,” say Sipilä Haahtela and Taipale-Vuorinen.

The pilot will continue until the end of June 2023. The Government outlines the permanent service structure of labour policy during the government term.

  • Employment