Nearly half of wage and salary earners in Finland (48%) worked remotely in 2020. Many of them teleworked more frequently than before and the majority (92%) said they were "satisfied with the arrangement."
These are the preliminary conclusions from the Working Life Barometer, a sample study by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment that examines the quality of working life from the point of view of Finnish employees.
This year's edition also shows how the coronavirus pandemic has increased uncertainty among wage and salary earners about their job security, but "to a significantly smaller degree than during other economic crisis," the government emphasized in a press release.
As a result of the coronavirus, the workload increased for about one-third of wage and salary earners (31%) and decreased for around one-sixth of them (18%).
The workload increased especially for women, clerical workers and wage and salary earners in the municipal sector.
Progress in digitalisation
The overall results of the Working Life Barometer show a huge digital leap at work in 2020. New working methods were implemented more commonly at workplaces. The share of people using electronic workspaces and instant messaging services in their work increased significantly from 2019. The change is visible in all sectors and socioeconomic groups.
On the other hand, government says that remote work, the use of lay-offs and support measures introduced for companies "have alleviated fears of redundancy among wage and salary earners compared with previous economic crisis."
“The coronavirus pandemic has hit the labour market hard. We have been able to mitigate the adverse effects by safeguarding people’s livelihoods and providing support to companies. However, the pandemic is not over yet,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.
According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, in December 2020 there were 48,000 more unemployed than one year before. The unemployment rate in December 2020 was 8.2%.
