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Haikkola Lotta, 2019, Shaping activation policy at the street level: Governing inactivity in youth employment services, Acta Sociologica, 62(3), 334–348. 

Young jobseekers’ encounters with frontline workers of youth services in the Public Employment Services (PES):

Frontline workers and their clients of youth services in Public Employment Services (PES). 

Finland, Helsinki. 

E. Data (a.), specific measures (b.), and methods (c.), please also specify whether the study deploys cross-country data (d.).
Interviews. 

In this study, the barriers are related to the services provided and the client-frontline worker interactions. 

Barrier 1 [Title, for example: Lack of occupationally relevant education and training] 

Barrier 2 [Title, for example: Lack of work experience] 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments 

From the abstract:”Despite the policy focus on active citizenship the street-level practice entails not only liberal ideas of self-governing individuals but also authoritarian measures. What is governed in the meetings is not the young people’s selves but their time and behaviour”.

Ylistö, Sami, 2018, Why do Young People Give up Their Job Search? Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 8(3): 27-45. https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.v8i3.109539 

B. Main topic covered by this specific study and how it relates to the barriers identified 

Reasons why long-term unemployed youth in Finland give up their search for work or a student place. 

C. Target group(s), information on how the target group is identified 

Young unemployed persons under 30 years old who have been unemployed for at least 12 consecutive months. Recruitment of interviewees via organizations providing rehabilitation and training services for the unemployed and via the social networks of unemployed youths.

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city  

Central Finland, Jyväskylä and surrounding areas.

28 life course interviews.

F. Overall characteristic of the barriers identified by this study 

Lack of knowledge, job content vs own values, emotional barriers, employers’ high demands.

Barrier 3 Emotional barriers. “Disappointments and difficult life situations that must be overcome before it is possible to search for work in the first place”. 

Barrier 4 Employers’ high demands. Young people experience difficulties in finding employment, especially if they have any disabilities. In these situations they tend to search meaningful content in their life within some other domain. 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments 

Published in peer-reviewed journal, but analysis based on 28 interviews in one region in Finland.

Antti Saloniemi, Janne Salonen, Tapio Nummi & Pekka Virtanen (2020) The diversity of transitions during early adulthood in the Finnish labour market, Journal of Youth Studies. 

18-26 year old individuals in national registers. 

Finland. 

National registers comprising all men (29,383) and women (27,784) born in 1987. Trajectory analysis with four variables (employment, education, unemployment, social security allowances) from 2005 to 2013. 

Barrier 1 Health problems. Permanent disability was found among 2 % of men and 7 % of women (mothers also included). 

Barrier 2 Outside education, work or even unemployment benefit (3 % of men) and permanent unemployment 6 % of men). For women, main barrier is related to care responsibilities while for men it seems to be the overall weak connection to the educational system. 

Barrier 3 Precarious students. Characterized by sporadic studies and periods of employment and unemployment. 

[Add more barriers if needed] 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments 

”We identified ten trajectory groups, of which seven in men and eight in women were categorised as ‘mainstream paths’, reflecting relatively smooth transitions. The other trajectory groups were considered to assume ‘straying paths’ (Unemployed, Outsiders and Disabled): 11 per cent of both men and women followed these paths. The size and nature of these paths differed between men and women: it seems that men more often have serious difficulties with labour market attachment than women do. Overall, the results of the multiple variable trajectory analyses suggest that cross-sectional inspections of the Finnish register data overestimate the proportion of NEETs, particularly among men”.

 

”For the vast majority, there were no major problems in terms of labour market attachment. It is possible to interpret the result as a modification of the ‘missing middle’; the analysis revealed a majority that is perhaps not following the ideal type of ‘normal biography’, but not could be classified as being at special risk of becoming marginalised”.

Jaakko Harkko, Tuula Lehikoinen, Sarita Lehto ja Mika Ala-Kauhaluoma (2016)

Onko osa nuorista vaarassa syrjäytyä pysyvästi? Nuorten syrjäytymisriskit ja aikuisuuteen siirtymistä tukeva palvelujärjestelmä. Social Insurance Institution Finland.

Transition to adulthood is examined in the light of young people’s life situation, the service system, and public interventions. Study includes analysis on labour market attachment of different risk groups.

C. Target group(s), information on how the target group is identified 

The phenomenon was studied at population level and in specific population groups which, according to earlier studies, are at risk of marginalization and labour market exclusion. These groups include those having low educational attainment, psychotropic medication or work incapacity benefits, and young people with a history of foster care.

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city  

Finland.

The register data were collected from several administrative registers (Statistics Finland, Social Insurance Institution, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, National Institute for Health and Welfare). We followed young people born in 1983–1985 (60% representative sample, n = 119 600) over a period of 10 years. A survey targeted at young people in foster care investigated respondents’ experiences of their life situation, education and future goals (n = 150). Interviews with representatives of the service system provided in-depth information about the services offered to young people at risk of marginalization (n = 52).

F. Overall characteristic of the barriers identified by this study 

The risk groups examined in the study (those having low educational attainment, psychotropic medication or work incapacity benefits, and young people with a history of foster care) had lower labour market attachment compared to other young individuals.

Barriers related to services. Challenges in transitions from one service to another; in services, psychosocial problems more difficult to deal with than physical limitations.

High: register-based study with good quality data and well defined research questions.

Nivalainen S. (2022) From plans to action? Retirement thoughts, intentions and actual retirement: An eight-year follow-up in Finland. Ageing and Society, 42(1), 112-142. doi:10.1017/S0144686X20000756

The study focuses on the process of retirement perceived in three phases of thoughts of retirement, retirement intentions and actual retirement, their interconnections, and factors affecting planned and actual retirement age and the difference between the two. The role of work-related factors is studied, but also the effect of health, financial situation, social (family) context, and conditions that may restrict older workers’ ability and willingness to stay on at work.

Employees aged between 50 and 62. During the study period 2008–2016, Finland had a flexible retirement age: people could retire on a full old-age pension between ages 63 and 68. The age limit for early old-age retirement (with a reduced pension) was 62 years. Most of the public-sector employees had a fixed occupational (under 63) or personal retirement age (between 63 and 65).

Finland.

The data consisted of linked survey and register data. The Statistics Finland's 2008 cross-sectional, interview-based Quality of Working Life Survey (QWLS) based on a sample of 4 392 individuals. The survey is representative of the working-age population in Finland. Focus in this study is on employees aged between 50 and 62 (at the time of the survey). They numbered 1 389 persons. The QWLS data was linked to comprehensive longitudinal register data from Statistics Finland and the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Using information from pension registers, actual retirement was observed during the eight-year follow-up from 2008 to 2016. The final data set contained 803 respondents, of whom 750 retired during the follow-up period. Analysis methods were descriptive analysis, multinomial logistic models and ordinary least squares regression (OLS) model.

The results show that several key factors are associated with intended and actual retirement age which can be seen as barriers for staying longer in the working life. Individual factors, such as motivation, health and work abilty, employment situation, educational level, and family relations are connceted to actual retirement age, as well as factors connected to the workplace.

Barrier 1: Motivation and preference. There is a clear connection between retirement thoughts and retirement intentions, and between retirement intentions and actual retirement. Those who plan to retire early also tend to retire early, and vice versa. Even after controlling for other factors, intended retirement age is the strongest predictor of actual retirement age. The results indicate that retirement plans materialise with quite high accuracy.

Barrier 2: Poor health and work ability. Good health (better work ability) was connected with late retirement, while poor health (sickness absences) was conducive to early retirement. This applied both to retirement intentions and actual retirement age, and to the difference between actual and intended retirement age. A health shock (sickness absence) occurring after intentions were reported was a particularly powerful explanation for why actual retirement took place before the intended age.

Barrier 3: Unemployment. Unemployment increased early exit from work.

Barrier 4: Low education level. A high education was connected with actual late retirement. 

Barrier 5: Family relations. Married persons were less likely to retire early, and they ended up retiring later than intended. A recently retired spouse had the effect of advancing retirement, but that this effect was weaker than that of a non-retired spouse. An employed spouse seems to keep the other spouse working longer than planned rather than a retired spouse drawing the other half into earlier-than-planned retirement.

Barrier 5: Workplace factors. In workplaces where the employer supports the continued employment of older workers, employees preferred to retire late. With regard to actual retirement, the employer's support works both directly and indirectly via retirement intentions. The results show that older workers also react to negative signals coming from their employer's actions. Layoffs targeting older workers led to higher intentions of early retirement and to lower intentions of late retirement and thus indirectly advanced earlier retirement.

High.

I. Other comments: 

Kyyrä T, Pesola H (2020) Long-term effects of extended unemployment benefits for older workers. Labour Economics, Volume 62, 2020, 101777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101777

This study examines the long-term effects of extended unemployment benefits that older unemployed can receive until retirement in Finland. The focus is on the effects of a reform in 2005 that increased the age threshold of this scheme from 55 to 57.

Older workers employed in the private sector. The 2005 reform only affected individuals who were born in 1950 or later. As a result, the 1950 cohort became entitled to extended benefits at age 57, while the 1949 cohort became eligible at age 55.

Finland.

The Finnish Linked Employer-Employee Data (FLEED) of Statistics Finland for years 2001 to 2013. This database combines information from several administrative registers, and it covers the entire Finnish population between the ages of 15 to 70 as well as the private-sector firms. Additional information from other databases of Statistics Finland: Population Statistics and Cause-of-death Statistics and Total Statistics on Income Distribution. Regression discontinuity design (RDD) analysis to individuals born in 1949 or 1950 who worked in the private sector in 2001, that is, 3 or 6 years prior to eligibility to the UT scheme. This sample includes 62% of both cohorts.

The extended unemployment benefit until retirement age for the older unemployed can create an incentive for an early exit from the labour market. According to the results, the two-year increase in the age limit for extended benefits from 55 to 57 increases total months in employment over a 10-year period by 7 months (9%) and wage income by about 22,000 Euros (9%). The corresponding decrease in unemployment-related benefits leads to a smaller effect on total earned income which increases by 13,000 Euros (4%). The results indicate that the two-year increase in the age limit for extended benefits postpones the unemployment-related increase in the mortality hazard, but the results are quite imprecise. Disability and sickness benefits do not appear to be affected, which indicates that spillover effects into these benefit types are not a concern.

The age at which an individual becomes eligible for extended unemployment benefits has a substantial impact on labor market outcomes over the last years of the working career.

High. According to the study, the unemployment risk in the public sector was very low for the cohorts, and no  evidence of statistically significant effects of the 2005 reform for workers employed in the public sector in 2001 was found.

Noora Järnefelt, Aart-Jan Riekhoff, Mikko Laaksonen, Jyri Liukko (2022) Työnantajien mielikuvat yli

55-vuotiaista työntekijöistä, tuki työurien jatkumiselle ja esteet palkkaamiselle. Eläketurvakeskuksen tutkimuksia 5/2022. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-691-350-9

Employers’ perceptions of over-55-year-old employees, support for continued working and obstacles to hiring. Finnish Centre for Pensions, Studies 05/2022. 44 pages.

The study investigates employers’ perceptions of workers older than 55, the kind of support employers provide for working until the retirement age and the types of risks employers perceive as obstacles for hiring older workers.

All private and public sector establishments employing paid employees representing at least one staff-year. The target groups were identified from the register of enterprises and establishments, including the register of public corporations.

Finland.

Survey data. The data was gathered by Statistics Finland. Stratified random sample according to capitation and sector. Regional coverage. The questionnaire was answered by 1 693 employers, with a response rate of 68 per cent. The analysis was made by using descriptive methods (distribution, cross-tables, sum variables for the three parts of the questionnaire). The background variables were the size of the work place (capitation), the sector and industrial classification.

The study identified risks relating to hiring over-55-years-olds from an employers’ point of view. The risks may prevent employers from recruiting older workers, and therefore create barriers to employment for seniors.

Barrier 1: Risk of health problems. Out of the eight types of risks that the employers were presented with, health- or ability-related problems were most frequently perceived to be an obstacle for recruitment, with 65 per cent of the employers seeing it as an obstacle to some degree.

Barrier 2: Risk of outdated knowledge and skills. 60 per cent of employers stated that the risk of outdated knowledge and skills is at least somewhat of an obstacle for recruiting someone who is 55 years or older.

Barrier 3: Risk of low productivity compared to salary. Around half of the employers considered the risks of high salary requirements and low productivity to be obstacles for recruiting workers older than 55.

Barrier 4: Risk of sickness absence or disability retirement costs. Slightly less than half of the employers considered the risk of sickness absence or costs of disability retirement to be at least somewhat of an obstacle for recruiting an older worker. Less than 10 per cent of the employers consindered this risk as a considerable barrier for hiring.

A short remaining working life was considered a problem by 30 per cent of the employers.

Medium. Non peer reviewed.

Aho S, Tuomala J, Hämäläinen K, Mäkiaho A (2018) Työvoimapalvelujen kohdistuminen ja niihin osallistuvien työllistyminen. Valtioneuvoston selvitys- ja tutkimustoiminnan julkaisusarja 19/2018

Targeting of jobseeker services and the later employment of participants. Publications of the Government ́s analysis, assessment and research activities 19/2018. 100 pages.

The aim is to study the targeting of labour market services and activation measures for the various groups of unemployed and evaluate the impact of participation of later employment.

The considered population covers those, who were unemployed in 2010 or 2013. About a quarter of them ended their unemployment spell transiting into labour market services.

Finland.

A register data that combines the Finnish Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data (Statistics Finland) and Employment service register data (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment). Data covers all persons registered as unemployed between 2001 and 2014. For the impact evaluation a sample that consists of people whose unemployment period started in 2010, has lasted at least 30 days, and who are between 20 to 59 years old. Comparison of unemployed participating in services with a matched control group. The effects are estimated by using propensity score, average treatment effects (ATE) and average treatment effects on treated (ATET).

Possible barriers related to selection to and participation in PE-services.

Barrier 1: Non-participation in PE-services. The ageing, at least 55 years old unemployed participated less in services and activation measures than the other groups, regardless of their level of education.

Barrier 2: Participation in services that have a low impact on later employment. The ageing unemployed participated more than the other groups in subsidized jobs in the public sector and less in occupational training. Between 2010 and 2013 their participation in occupational training decreased, while participation in subsidized jobs in the public sector and participation in rehabilitative work activity increased. According to the study, occupational training and subsidized jobs in private businesses enchanted later employment – also among the ageing. Subsidized jobs in the public sector or rehabilitative work activity had no impact on later employment. 

Medium. Non peer-reviewed. The study does not focus on barriers to employment.

Only the results concerning ageing unemploeyd were reported here.

Ahmad, Akhlaq (2020) Do Equal Qualifications Yield Equal Rewards for Immigrants in the Labour Market? Work, Employment and Society 34(5): 826–843. 

Using a correspondence field experiment, the study investigated if immigrant job applicants with equivalent qualifications are treated differently in the Finnish labour market.

C. Target group(s), information on how the target group is identified 

This field experiment was conducted between June 2016 and March 2017 by responding to 1000 job postings that were listed on te-palvelut.fi, the website of the Finnish national employment service. Five fictitious job applicants of Finnish, English, Iraqi, Russian and Somali backgrounds sent substantively similar job applications to each of these openings.

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city  

Finland. 

The study consists of 5000 job applications that were sent out to 1000 advertised positions by five applicants of Finnish, English, Iraqi, Russian and Somali backgrounds, who differed only in their names. Logistic regression analyses are used to describe the effect of the independent variables on the odds of receiving a callback from the employer. 

Applicants of immigrant origin received significantly fewer invitations for a job interview than the native candidate, even if they possess identical language proficiency, education and vocational diplomas. Employers show greater levels of aversion towards immigrant applicants of non-European than European origin. In particular, applicants with a Somali name seem to be the least desirable candidates for the employers, with the lowest callback rate (9.9% vs 39% for the Finnish candidate).

Barrier 1. Barriers related to the employer and the state of the economy. Job applicants with migrant background are less likely to receive a response from employers compared to applicants with Finnish name. 

Barrier 2 [Title, for example: Lack of work experience] 

High quality, extensive data and peer-reviewed article. 

See also Ahmad, A. (2022) Does additional work experience moderate ethnic discrimination in the labour market? Economic and Industrial Democracy 43. Doi: 10.1177/0143831X20969828. 

Tervola, Jussi (2020) Different selection processes, different outcomes? Comparing labor market integration of asylum refugees, resettled refugees and their reunited family members in Finland. Comparative Migration Studies 28. 

B. Main topic covered by this specific study and how it relates to the barriers identified 

The role of admission category (resettled refugees, asylum refugees and family reunion migrants) in the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants. 

Total working-age population (ages 25–60) of humanitarian and family reunion migrants who migrated to Finland during 2001–2014. Their labor market outcomes are followed through the years 2003–2015, one observation per year. The length of the follow-up ranges from 1 to 13 years, depending on the migration cohort. Migrants who do not fall in the age range of 25–60 in a particular year are considered as missing observations. 

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city  

Finland.

Data are compiled from multiple administrative registers such as the population register, the tax register and the registers of the social insurance institution. The data include information on taxable earnings, unemployment benefits and child care benefits as well as demographic information on age, gender, country of birth, migration year, dwelling area and marital status.

 Regression models. 

F. Overall characteristic of the barriers identified by this study 

Barrier 1 Age. Resettled refugee males were older on average than asylum refugees and family reunion migrants, which explained some of the discrepancies in labor market integration between the groups. 

Barrier 2 : Barriers related to care responsibilities. Female family reunion migrants more likely to stay at home longer and care for children. 

High: administrative data. 

See also Tervola (2018) Supporting gender equality and integration Immigrant families’ child care choices in the Nordic policy context. Social Insurance Institution Finland. Studies in social security and health 149. 

A. Specific reference: (author(s), year, title, source, pages) 

Busk, H. & Jauhiainen, S. (2021) The Careers of Immigrants in Finland: Empirical Evidence for Genders and Year of Immigration. Journal of International Migration and Integration. 

B. Main topic covered by this specific study and how it relates to the barriers identified 

Effects of gender and year of immigration on employment.

C. Target group(s), information on how the target group is identified 

Immigrants are defined as those who are foreign citizens regardless of the reason for immigration. 

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city  

Finland.

Population registers of the Statistics Finland augmented with employment information from the registers of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The register data from Statistics Finland comprise all foreign nationals who immigrated to Finland in 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2005 or 2006.

 N=39 610

F. Overall characteristic of the barriers identified by this study 

Barrier 1 Care responsibilities. Having underage children is associated with shorter working careers among women while the findings are opposite for men. 

Barrier 2: Economic situation of the country. Social and economic conditions during the year in which immigration takes place have a lasting impact on future working years. 

Barrier 3 Lack of work experience. Having no or only little work experience is a hindrance to accumulating a working career further. Therefore, the time immediately after immigration seems crucial. 

H. Quality of the study: High, medium, low + comments 

High: rich data (administrative data) & peer-reviewed article. 

I. Other comments: 

Krivonos, D. (2018) The making of gendered ‘migrant workers’ in youth activation: The case of young Russian-speakers in Finland. Current Sociology, 67(3) 401–418. 

The article analyses young Russian-speakers’ encounters with labour activation in youth career counselling offices in the context of ongoing workfare reforms, which are state policies and schemes that require the unemployed to participate in work and work-related activities to be eligible for unemployment benefits.

C. Target group(s), information on how the target group is identified 

Young Russian-speaking unemployed.

D. Location of the study: Country, region, city  

Southern Finland.

 Ethnography: observations in youth career counselling, and CV, integration and language courses in the region of southern Finland; interviews with 54 young unemployed or precariously employed Russian-speakers in Finland (all but one born outside Finland: 20 male and 34 female participants) coming from Russia, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia – the majority of my research participants came from Russia and Estonia, which represent the two largest migrant groups in Finland.

Stereotypical assumptions on what kind of skills and behaviour migrant and racialised men and women supposedly ‘naturally’ possess: young migrant women as care and service workers, men as manual workers (despite their formal skills).

Barrier 1 [Title, for example: Lack of occupationally relevant education and training] 

Perceptions of the career counselors: Young male clients were offered jobs in the sectors representing a high concentration of migrant workers such as logistics, construction and warehouse work for short unpaid trial periods. 

Medium: perr-reviewed journal but due to qualitative nature of the analysis and specific respondent group (Russian speakers only) cannot be generalized. However, acts as a good example of how job seeking works among migrants.

Leinonen T, Solovieva S, Husgafvel, Pursiainen K, Laaksonen M, Viikari-Juntura E (2019) Do individual and work-related factors differentiate work participation trajectories before and after vocational rehabilitation? PLoS ONE 14(2): e0212498. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0212498

The study focused on the factors associated with work participation trajectories before and after vocational rehabilitation.

Vocational rehabilitees in the earnings-related pension scheme.

Finland.

Nationwide Finnish register data of 7 180 vocational rehabilitees. Latent trajectory groups of work participation two years before and two years after their rehabilitation episode starting in 2008–2010 were constructed. Changes in labor market statuses in these groups were plotted and other associated factors (age, gender, region of residence, education, prior work-related exposures, characteristics of the vocational rehabilitation) were examined by using multinomial logistic regression.

Several individual factors were associated with less favorable trajectories before and after vocational rehabilitation. These might create barriers for employment for people with disability. In the study four trajectories were identified based on work participation levels before and after vocational rehabilitation. The “High–Resumed” group (35.6%) typically returned to full duties. The “High–to–Negligible” group (20.7%) typically transitioned to full disability retirement or unemployment. Among the “Medium–Resumed” (25.5%) and “Longstanding Negligible” (18.3%) groups, work disability and unemployment were common before rehabilitation, but afterwards those assigned to the former group often returned to full or partial duties.

Barrier 1: Older age. The three less favorable trajectory groups were generally associated with older age.

Barrier 2: Male gender. The three less favorable trajectory groups were generally associated with male gender.

Barrier 3: Living in more rural areas. The three less favorable trajectory groups were generally associated with living in Eastern or Northern Finland.

Barrier 4: Low education level. The three less favorable trajectory groups were generally associated with having less than tertiary education.

Barrier 5: Mental disorders. Those with mental disorders followed less favorable work participation trajectories around vocational rehabilitation than those with other diagnoses.

High. The data does not include vocational rehabilitees in the social insurance system, thus excluding people with weak attachmet to the labor market. The study does not focus on barriers to employment.

Polvinen A, Laaksonen M, Rantala J, Hietaniemi M, Kannisto J, Kuivalainen S (2018) Working while on a disability pension in Finland: Association of diagnosis and financial factors to employment. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 2018; 46(Suppl 19): 74–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494817738460

The aim of the study was to find out whether health and financial factors are associated with engagement in paid work during a disability pension.

People on earnings-related full or partial disability pension.

Finland.

The data included a 10 per cent sample of Finns aged 20–62 years who were drawing earnings-related full or partial disability pension in 2012 (n = 14 418). Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios for working while on a full or partial disability pension.

Fourteen per cent of full disability pensioners and 76 per cent of partial disability pensioners were engaged in paid work. The engagement in paid work was associated with benefit related and individual factors that can create barriers for employment.

Barrier 1: Timing of disability pension. More recent timing of disability pension was associated with working for both partial and full disability pensioners. People who have recently retired on a disability pension may find it a lot easier to continue working, compared to those whose retirement happened many years ago. They may have more connections to working life and their skills and working experience may be more often up-to-date.

Barrier 2: Amount of disability pension and earnings limits. There was no association between the amount of disability pension and the probability of working among full disability pensioners. Instead, partial disability pensioners with average disability pension seemed to work more often than others. It may be that existing earnings limits affect the probability of working while on a disability pension. Among those with low preretirement earnings, the euro limit gave the right to earn more than the limit based on stabilized earnings, which may have encouraged their working. Secondly, higher earnings may restrict working while on a disability pension, if the earnings exceed the earnings limits for working on a disability pension.

Barrier 3: Individual factors. Mental disorders: For full disability pensioners, working was less common among those who had retired due to mental disorders than for those retired due to musculoskeletal diseases. Also, partial disability pensioners with cardiovascular diseases were working more often than those retired due to mental disorders. Education level: The study found large educational differences in working while on a full or partial disability pension. Disability pensioners with higher education were more likely to work than disability pensioners with a lower level of education.

High. The data does not include people receiving disability pension in the social insurance system, thus excluding people with weak attachmet to the labor market. The study does not focus on barriers to employment.

Ala-Kauhaluoma, Mika & Kesä, Mikko & Lehikoinen, Tuula & Pitkänen, Sari & Ylikojola, Pekka (2017) Osatyökykyisistä osaavaa työvoimaa. Osatyökykyisten työvoiman kysyntää ja sen kehittämistä koskeva tutkimus. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö. 92 pages.  http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-327-252-1
People with partial work ability as competent workforce. Study on the demand for and development of workforce with partial work ability. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The study looks at the demand for and recruitment of workforce with partial work ability from the employer’s point of view.

Employers registered in public employment services in Finland in 2016 (N=11 456).

Finland.

The study was conducted as multimethod research. An electronic survey was carried out among employers, reaching 999 respondents (9 %), 26 per cent of whom had experience in recruiting people with partial work ability. In addition, stakeholder interviews (n=15) were conducted among representatives of business life advocacy groups and ten case studies were carried out. The quantitative analysis was made by using descriptive methods (distribution, cross-tables), and the qualitative analysis by using content analysis. 

Most of the barriers for recruitment were related to information asymmetries.

Barrier 1: Information gaps. The employers highlighted that it would be important to be provided with realistic information about the characteristics, productivity and restrictions of people with partial work ability to support the recruitment process. Furthermore, basic information about recruitment and related support is needed. The study also revealed that companies need information about where to find jobseekers with partial work ability.

Barrier 2: No suitable work available. Especially large companies (> 100 employees) saw that there is no suitable work available for people with partial work ability compared to smaller companies.

Barrier 3: Financial risks. For small companies, the most prominent risks include costs caused by absence (sick pay, substitute personnel etc.) whereas for large companies, they are risks related to potential pension contributions.

Barrier 4: Recruitment process flaws. One of the main reasons for not hiring people with partial work ability was that the company had not detected such people in their recruitment processes. Those companies who had recruited persons with partial work ability emphasized personality, motivation and social skills, as well as accordance with company values as their recruitment criteria compared to those companies who had not recruited persons with partial work ability.

Low. A report rather than a research, but it identifies employer-related barriers for recruitment of people with partial work ability.

Nurmela K.S., Heikkinen V.H., Ylinen A.M., Uitti J.A., Virtanen P.J. (2020) Health care attendance styles among long-term unemployed people with substance-realted and mood disorders. Public Health 186 (2020) 211-216. DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2020.07.030

The study investigates the associations of substance-related and mood disorders among long-term unemployed people with styles of healthcare attendance in Finland.

Long-term unemployed people who have medical disorders limiting their working ability. The group was identified in the nationwide screening project entitled Eligibility for a Disability Pension (EDIPE) by the Ministry of Labour in Finland in early 2000.

Finland, city of Tampere (the 3^rd biggest city in the country).

The study material consisted of client register of the EPIDE, including EPIDE examinations, health care register, and register information about working career and referrals from PES). The study was based on random sample of 505 long-term unemployed clients in the project, of which 498 were included in the study. The data were analysed by mixed methods: qualitative typological analysis was applied to identify differential healthcare attendance styles, and the associations of the obtained styles with mental health disorders were analysed quantitatively by multinomial logistic regression.

According to the study, the most prevalent diagnoses were substance-related and mood disorders. Three health care attendance styles, characterized as smooth, faltering, and marginalized were identified. Dysfunctional use of health services was more common among people with substance-related or mood disorders.

Barrier 1: Dysfunctional use of health services that might prevent timely access to services and benefits. According to the conclusions of the study, dysfunctional use of health service may create a barrier for employment, while early detection of those with faltering or marginalized healthcare attendance style may prevent prolonged unemployment, enable rehabilitation measures and reduce the risk of disability pensions.

Medium. There are limitations in generalizability of the results to all long-term unemployed people because the data is from one city and it’s based on very long-term unemployed people. The study does not focus on barriers to employment. 

Hästbacka E, Nygård M (2019) Creating capabilities for societal participation in times of welfare state change? Experiences of people with disabilities in Finland. Alter Volume 13, Issue 1, March 2019, Pages 15-28 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alter.2018.09.003

The study explores societal participation of people with disabilities in Finland in times of the recent ratification process of the UN CRPD and welfare cuts and investigates the subjective experiences of societal participation in a changing welfare state context.

Working-age people with disabilities. The respondents were found through an advertisement in a disability organisation magazine and through a Facebook group for people with different kinds of disabilities.

Finland.

The empirical study was conducted through 13 individual qualitative interviews with persons with different forms of disabilities. Three were men, ten were women, and they were between 34 and 64 years of age and from different parts of the country. The interviews were conducted in 2015 by using similar questions for everyone with non-structuralised answers. The data was analysed through qualitative content analysis. The analysis focused on of the meaning and experiences of and the facilitators and barriers influencing the societal participation of people with disabilities.

Based on the personal experiences of the respondents, the areas of life that were seen as important fields of societal participation were family-life, education, labour market participation, leisure activities and political engagement. All respondents had some kind of education and at least some experience of labour market participation. The most highlighted barriers were connected to the disability rights and the disability service system.

Barrier 1: Bureaucracy and lack of information about services. Although legislated social rights and services were seen as crucial for daily living, the actual access to these rights were sometimes complicated by bureaucracy.  A lack of information when it comes to what kind of service and support one could apply for, or where to get them.

Barrier 2: Scare resources in disablity services. The Finnish disability service system was to some extent seen as both rigid and vulnerable in the sense of constantly being managed with minimum staff and resources, which leads to outdrawn decision-making processes. Insufficient funding leads to insufficient service provision, which in turn complicates societal participation.

Barrier 3: Regional differences in service provision and access to services. Regional differences regarding both practices in and the resources available for disability services.

Barrier 4: Lack of professional understanding. The lack of professional flexibility and understanding, especially if persons with disabilities are not acknowledged as experts of their own lives. Lack of sensibility to indivual situations and flexibility in diasbility services.

Barrier 5: Negative attitudes and weak access to regular jobs. The barriers for employment are not necessarily linked to the disability in itself, but to negative attitudes. The respondents pointed out that in Finland, people with disabilities often tend to be offered employment primarily through special arrangements involving only a symbolic wage on top of their disability pension. This was experienced as discriminating and having a hampering effect on equal employment opportunities. More employment opportunities in regular jobs were therefore called for.

Medium. Small highly selected data.

Laaksonen M, Blomgren J (2020) The Level and Development of Unemployment before Disability Retirement: A Retrospective Study of Finnish Disability Retirees and Their Controls. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 8;17(5):1756. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17051756.

The study examined development of unemployment prior to disability retirement by educational level and occupational class in different diagnostic groups.

Finnish residents aged 25–64 years who retired due to disability in 2011–2015.

Finland.

The study population comprised 70% of Finnish residents aged 25–64 years who retired due to disability in 2011–2015 (n = 54 387). The information was based on the pension registers of the Finnish Centre for Pensions and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. Growth curve models were used to analyze the level and development of pre-retirement unemployment among the retirees due to mental disorders, musculoskeletal diseases and all other somatic diseases and their gender- and age-matched controls drawn from the non-retired population.

According to the study, during six pre-retirement years, disability retirees had on average 39 annual excess unemployment days compared to their non-retiring controls. On average, unemployment increased by 5.5 days per each year of approaching disability retirement, after controlling for aging and secular trends. The results indicate barriers related to services, health related factors, and socioeconomic differences. 

Barrier 1: Lack of (early) identification of work ability problems among the unemployed, and services to support work ability. The study concludes that as the level of unemployment is elevated already several years before disability retirement, work ability problems among the unemployed should be tackled in the early stages. Increased efforts to maintain and improve work ability among the unemployed is crucial in diminishing disability retirement at the population level.

Excess unemployment was particularly high among those retiring due to mental disorders. Excess unemployment was higher among the less educated and among manual workers, in particular among those retiring due to mental disorders or somatic diseases other than musculoskeletal diseases.

High. The study does not focus on barriers to employment.