Draft budget of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment for 2022: aiming to boost sustainable growth

NordenBladet — “The ministry’s draft budget is aimed at boosting sustainable growth. We will invest in good management of employment, skills, innovations, low carbon solutions and digitalisation,” say Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen and Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä about the draft budget of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment for 2022.The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment proposes main title appropriations totalling EUR 3.298 billion.Increasing investment in employment promotionThe Government is committed to a long-term approach in its work to raise the employment rate through decisions that may bring an estimated 80,000 new jobs. “Promoting employment is our main objective and we will invest significantly in the development of employment services. During 2022, in addition to the Nordic employment service model and a company promoting the employment of people with partial work ability, we will implement numerous other employment measures previously decided by the Government to increase the employment rate,” says Minister of Employment Haatainen. A total of EUR 284 million is proposed for public employment and business services appropriations and just under EUR 198 million for the operating expenditure of the Employment and Economic Development (TE) Offices in 2022. In addition, it is intended to finance from the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland the implementation of the Nordic employment service model with a total of around EUR 83 million in 2022. Of this, EUR 70 million would be allocated to increasing the staff of TE Offices and EUR 13 million to the development of digital services. New special assignment company to promote employment of people with partial work abilityTo promote the employment of people with partial work ability, a new state-owned special assignment company will be established, a Government proposal on which is currently out for consultation. The task of the company, whose working name is Välittäjä Oy, will be to employ people with partial work ability in longer-term employment relationships than at present, to provide support to employees and to create opportunities for career advancement. “In this way, we can improve, in particular, the employment opportunities of people with partial work ability who are in the most disadvantageous position, and improve their position in Finnish society,” says Minister of Employment Haatainen.The draft budget for 2022 includes a discretionary government transfer of EUR 10 million for the special assignment company’s activities. In addition, the intention is to capitalise the company with a total of EUR 20 million from the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. The aim is for the new special assignment company to start operating during 2022. 
Electrification subsidy to boost carbon-neutral productionThe Government is preparing legislation related to the budget proposal on a subsidy for the electrification of energy-intensive industries. The subsidy will provide more effective incentives for carbon-neutral production and the electrification of energy-intensive companies, taking cost competitiveness in account. “The strategy of the renewal of industry has set Finland the objective of being the world’s most competitive operating environment for industry aiming to be carbon neutral. To achieve this, both incentives and due attention to cost competitiveness will be required,” says Minister of Economic Affairs Lintilä. The amount of subsidy to be paid to companies will be determined by, among other things, the price of emissions allowances and the operator’s level of electricity consumption or production. The draft budget of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy for 2022 includes an appropriation of EUR 87 million for the electrification subsidy. 
Attracting foreign experts is importantFinnish companies need experts from abroad. Finland is actively seeking to attract foreign experts and to streamline permit processes relating to the immigration of skilled labour. To promote work-based immigration, an additional appropriation of EUR 2.7 million is proposed for the operating expenditure of TE Offices and Business Finland as well as the development of digitalisation in order to establish a Work in Finland support structure to promote the immigration of skilled labour. In work-based immigration, the priorities are sectors suffering from labour shortages mentioned in the Government Programme, and the specialists, students and researchers who are essential for leading and growing fields of research, development and innovation. The Government is also promoting immigration of entrepreneurs and investors. The aim is also to develop, in cooperation with labour market actors, measures that would serve sector-specific needs.
Innovation funding to create foundation for growthInvestments in knowledge and innovation are key factors in sustainable economic growth. It is proposed that just over EUR 338 million be allocated to the authorisation for Business Finland’s research, development and innovation grants and EUR 146 million for loans. In addition, significant additional investments will be allocated from the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland to knowledge and innovation activities in 2022. The amount and allocation of the additional funding will be decided at a later stage in the preparation of the budget proposal. Additional investments from EU Recovery and Resilience Facility The administrative branch of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment will play a key role in the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. The programme aims to, among other things, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase productivity and raise the employment rate. The draft budget for 2022 of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment does not yet include additional funding from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for 2022.  The allocation of funding will be decided later as the preparation of the Government’s budget proposal advances. Proposal for main title applications EUR 3.298 billion – decrease in appropriations is due to a reduction in coronavirus support and the ending of one-off capital funding measuresThe Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment proposes main title appropriations totalling EUR 3.298 billion, which is EUR 584 million less than the actual budget for the current year. The level of main title expenditure is reduced compared with the 2021 Budget due to, in particular, the ending of the one-off capital funding of Finnish Minerals Group (- EUR 300 million), the reduction of coronavirus support payments granted by Business Finland (- EUR 144 million) and ELY Centres (- EUR 65 million), and the removal from the budget of fixed-term appropriations under the Government Programme allocated to growth of research, develop and innovation activities as well as the circular economy and sectors (- EUR 64 million).

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi