Govt to boost social enterprises to get vulnerable people employed

The government aims to improve the conditions for social enterprises to employ people with partial work ability and other vulnerable groups, according to a government press release.

The release follows the submission of a study report on Wednesday to Employment Minister Tuula Haatainen.

“Employment of people with partial work ability is an important issue, and we will immediately start to improve the conditions for social enterprises in Finland based on this report. We will also review the needs of social enterprises in the Ministerial Working Group on Promoting Employment,” said Haatainen.

To lay a foundation for the work, Harri Kostilainen, a researcher at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, studied the current situation of social enterprises in Finland as requested by the economic affairs and employment ministry.

In his report Kostilainen said, in order to enable social enterprises to improve their business and employment, the country should promote awareness of their activities and better identify their special characteristics.

The report said social enterprises have special characteristics and needs. However, those are not recognised in the current strategies and policies to support business activities. Social enterprises are not sufficiently considered in the context of promoting the conditions for conducting business.

It said the number of jobs in social enterprises is more than 50,000. Most of these jobs are in enterprises that the Association for Finnish Work has awarded the Finnish Social Enterprise mark (22,500 jobs) and in social and healthcare associations (26,500 jobs). These two groups have a particular potential for increasing the employment rate of people with partial work ability. Other social enterprises could also employ a significant number of people, including people with partial work ability.

Finland is actively seeking to promote business and the conditions for conducting business, reads the press release. It said business creates sustainable growth and enables employment and wellbeing, including the employment of vulnerable groups, adding that social enterprises should also be taken into account in public employment and business services.

Social and healthcare services, employment and circular economy are the most common sectors where social enterprises operate.