Finland’s 500-position youth employment scheme has so far resulted in just 29 young people being hired by central government agencies, despite the government’s plan to create the positions as part of an effort to help young people gain their first experience of working life.
The programme, announced by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government in April, was designed to provide fixed-term jobs or traineeships for 500 people aged 18 to 25 who were looking for their first job or traineeship in central government. The positions can last for up to three months, with EUR 4 million allocated to fund the programme.
By the end of August, however, only 29 young people had started work through the scheme at 16 government agencies, according to figures provided to Yle by the Ministry of Finance. The figure represents a small share of the government’s original target, although the ministry says the programme is still in its early stages.
Janne Oberg, a senior financial officer at the Ministry of Finance, said the number of recruits was expected to rise substantially during September. He said it was too early to draw conclusions from the August figure and that the ministry expected most of the positions to be filled during the early autumn.
The ministry remains confident that all 500 positions will be filled by the end of 2026. Under the programme’s rules, agencies can continue recruiting young people during the first six months of next year, giving them additional time to use the funding.
The slow start appears to have been partly linked to the timing of the programme. Although the scheme was announced in April, agencies told Yle that the additional funding arrived too late to make much difference to the summer recruitment season. Recruitment itself can take time, while some government positions also require security clearances.
The timing was particularly significant because the programme was intended to help young people obtain an early foothold in working life. Government agencies that wanted to recruit summer workers had to prepare their recruitment processes within a relatively short period.
The Finnish Tax Administration, for example, said it was unable to recruit through the scheme until senior staff had returned from their summer holidays. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, THL, planned to begin its recruitment process in August.
Despite the limited number of hires so far, the Ministry of Finance says demand among government agencies has been considerably higher than the number of positions ultimately made available.
According to Oberg, agencies initially submitted requests for more than 700 positions for young workers. The government then limited the number of positions allocated to individual agencies so that the overall programme would remain within the 500-position target.
The government introduced the scheme as part of a wider package of employment measures announced in April, with youth employment identified as a particular concern in a difficult labour market. The official programme was intended to give 18 to 25-year-olds applying for their first job or traineeship an opportunity to gain experience within central government.
The difference between the original target and the number of young people hired by the end of August nevertheless leaves a significant amount of recruitment to be completed in the remaining months of the year. The government’s stated target is still 500 positions, and the Ministry of Finance says it expects recruitment to accelerate after the summer.
If some agencies are unable to fill their allocated positions, those places can be reassigned elsewhere. The ministry plans to review the situation towards the end of the year and redistribute unfilled positions if necessary.
For young people trying to enter the Finnish labour market, the programme therefore remains a work in progress rather than a completed employment measure. The coming months will determine whether the government’s original target can be translated into the 500 placements promised when the scheme was announced in April.
