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27.11.2025 17:30

The government’s record is 100,000 more unemployed and four betrayals of workers – but we will not stay silent

According to PAM’s Council, the government’s experiment with top-down dictates has led to mass unemployment. Employment and Finland’s economy can only recover by restoring workers’ trust and through genuine cooperation. Real courage from the government would be to admit this.

From the start, the government has worsened the conditions and livelihood of wage earners and the most vulnerable among us. The election promises were quickly thrown in the trash bin when the government programme was written based on the business sector’s wish list.

The first betrayal. Before the elections, Finns Party leader Riikka Purra said, “cutting social security is not acceptable to us”. During this government term, social security has been cut more than ever before. Unemployment benefit is reduced by one fifth after two months, the exempt amount for part-time workers has been removed, and child supplements have been eliminated.

The promise not to cut social security has changed to pushing 31,000 children into poverty.

The second betrayal. Petteri Orpo promised repeatedly that “no one will be required to endure unreasonable hardship”. A report published by Labore in September shows clearly that the cuts especially target service sector workers, women and widened the gender income gap.

Many workers have been put in a completely unreasonable situation, with reduced unemployment benefits and no jobs available. On top of that, employment protection is being weakened by the so-called lay-off law and it will be easier to make fixed-term contracts. These are two fully ideological proposals that will only lead to more uncertainty on the labour market and a further decline in trust.

The third betrayal. The government promised to strengthen purchasing power — but the outcome has been the opposite for ordinary workers. High earners get hundreds of euros more each month through tax cuts, while unionised service workers lose the right to tax deductions for union membership and are left with barely over ten euros more per month.

At the same time, workers’ ability to negotiate better wages and working conditions has been undermined by restrictions on strikes and by writing the export sector model into law.

The fourth betrayal. The government loudly promised that cuts and weakened employment conditions would result in 100,000 new jobs during their term. About one third of the term remains — and instead, the result is nearly 100,000 more unemployed people.

The failed employment policy has punished ordinary workers, who face more pressure and fewer protections. At the same time, companies and the wealthy enjoy massive tax breaks, funded by debt – debt that future generations will keep paying for.

The government’s ideological agenda has systematically aimed to weaken workers and the trade union movement, hoping that we would get tired and lose faith in a better working life and future.

But the government will fail in this goal as well. Despite the betrayals, we at PAM will not stay silent. On the contrary, PAM will continue fighting for those who need defending the most.

The “unknown brake” invoked by the Ministry of Finance is not unknown to us at PAM. The real brake on the economy is the policy of the Orpo–Purra government, which has taken away people’s hope for the future. Now is the last moment to fix what you have broken.

Employment and Finland’s economy can only recover by restoring workers’ trust and through genuine cooperation. Real courage from the government would be to admit this. The experiment with top-down dictates has ended in mass unemployment.

Petteri Orpo, how do you think it went – honestly?

Keywords:

PAM's governing bodies politics unemployment

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