As highlighted in the OECD Action Plan for Youth, successful engagement of young people in the labour market is crucial not only for their own personal economic prospects and well-being, but also for overall economic growth and social cohesion. Therefore, investing in youth is a policy priority in all countries, including Finland, requiring concerted action to develop education systems and labour market arrangements that work well together.

Finland's education system ranks consistently among the best in the OECD, but inefficiencies in employment and social policies are hampering a smooth transition into the labour market for a considerable share of the youth population. The youth employment rate is slightly above the OECD average but markedly below those in other Nordic countries, while youth unemployment is only slowly recovering from a series of economic shocks that affected Finland in the past decade. With a strong demand for high-skilled workers and persistent shortages in high-skilled jobs, low-skilled youth encounter particular difficulties in the Finnish labour market. Those who failed to complete upper secondary education account for nearly half of all youth who are not in employment, education or training (the so-called NEETs).

The Finnish economy is recovering from a decade of serious economic shocks. In addition to the global economic crisis of 2008‑09, the country faced major difficulties in the electronic and forest industries and was affected by a severe recession in neighbouring Russia. A wide range of structural reforms and an ambitious competitiveness programme helped weather the impact of those shocks and the economy re-gained strong momentum in 2016, with an average GDP growth of 2.6% between 2016 and 2018.

This chapter provides an overview of the educational and employment outcomes and well-being of young people in Finland. After briefly outlining the economic context of the past decade, it compares the educational and employment performance of young Finns with that of young people across OECD countries. The chapter then describes the size and composition of the population of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs), paying particular attention to how their outlook and health compares to other youth. The chapter concludes with discussing the comparative length of inactivity of youth in Finland and the risk factors associated with remaining a NEET for an extended period.

This chapter takes an in-depth look at the transition from school to work in Finland. It first examines early school leaving and identifies ways to raise completion rates in (vocational) upper secondary education and improve outreach to early school leavers. The chapter then discusses how to ease the transition from upper secondary to tertiary education, by reforming the highly selective tertiary education admission system, improving the student financial aid system and widening the options for vocational students in postsecondary education. Finally, the chapter investigates ways to speed up labour market entry, through tighter collaboration between education providers and the labour market and more attention to mental health in tertiary education.

This chapter looks at the services and social benefits available in Finland to support young people who need help in their transition to employment and adulthood after having left the education system. It discusses the impact the unusually generous Finnish benefit system has for those people and how services and infrastructures work around incentives and disincentives created by the system. The chapter pays particular attention to integrated service approaches that ensure disadvantaged young people receive the right type of support when they need it. It also discusses possible consequences and opportunities of a comprehensive health and social services reform, which was planned to be introduced simultaneously with a regional government reform that would divide Finland into 18 counties.