PM stresses importance of economic recovery

Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Sunday that a return to economic growth must be the priority for the country and emphasized it as a way to boost employment, reported news agency Xinhua, quoting national radio Yle.

"Now we have to make sure that people have the jobs they can return to, and have the security," said Marin while responding to media questions during the monthly Prime Minister's Radio Hour on Yle, noting that the debate on structural economic reforms and employment comes later.

Marin rejected the view that cutbacks in the employee safety network of the welfare state could be used as a recovery measure to create more employment.

In the parliamentary debate on the major supplementary budget over the past week, the opposition criticized the government for lack of measures to curb unemployment. Marin said on Sunday that she detects in the opposition view the vista of weakening social security that could boost employment on a long term, however, no such measures should be taken in the crisis situation.

She praised the country's legally mandated furloughing system that has helped avoid dismissals.

When furloughed, the employee does not lose the job, but gets nevertheless unemployment benefits.

The Prime Minister also said the labour market system had shown its flexibility as the employer and employee organizations together made furloughing more flexible as the crisis hit, but at the same time improved the position of those employees affected.

Yle on Sunday gave the number of currently furloughed as 155,000.

Economic observers have said earlier that the Finnish furloughing system, with its pre-defined compensation, made it possible for the government to focus on helping enterprises, instead of having to spend on people in need.

In addition, Marin said she hopes that a possible second wave of COVID-19 would not result in the same kind of "closing of the country" that happened this spring.

She said ongoing measures include an increase in testing capacity, improving the availability of protective gear and the launch of mobile app that assists in epidemic tracing.

The prime minister said the special powers legislation, which was enforced in the spring and allowed the government to take the restrictive measures, could be abrogated this month, if the health experts suggest so, though the outcome can be either way. The current special powers expire at the end of June.