Work and Enterprises
The society needs to encourage its members to become entrepreneurs, to carry responsibility and to work hard. High productivity and employment and the citizens' good purchase power build a good foundation for economic success.
The primary goals of the workers are good working environment, secure work place and wages that are sufficient for independent subsistence. Creativity in the work, a sense of usefulness and esteem, security and good human relations are crucial for high work motivation. Sufficient free time and flexible working hours serve energetic working and the fitting together of family life and work.
The ambitious goal of 75% employment requires significant cuts in unemployment, earlier start on the working career and higher retirement age. The Christian Democrats' goal for this term is lowering unemployment from 8.3% to 5%.
Active employment policies need to be boosted to ease the situation of the young and long term unemployed. Long term unemployment is the greatest single cause of marginalization and multiple social problems. In order to lower structural unemployment, jobs need to be created also for those who have little or no professional training. The entrepreneurship program and on-the-job training have an important role in this.
We demand that:
Each young person needs to get training that leads to a job. Apprenticeship training needs to be increased and employment training renewed. All young persons need to be made individual job seeking plans and training, traineeship or workshop activities need to be offered after three months of unemployment.
Shortness of work force needs to be eased by training but also by controlled work-based immigrant policies and by employing more the immigrants already living in Finland.
The unemployed person's accepting short term work needs to be made easier by modifying the unemployment benefit payment calculations so that sporadic income does not delay receiving the benefits.
The measures proposed by the equal pay program need to be implemented Wages in health care and social sector need to be raised.
Flexible working time and working time bank systems need to be developed so that they take into consideration the needs of the work place as well as the family.
Problems due to periodic employment and irregular employment conditions not desired by the worker need to be remedied in the public sector by establishing permanent posts and hiring so-called permanent substitutes.
The work sharing system needs to be made a permanent alternative.
SMEs are significant employers. Finland needs more skillful people capable of serving, whose entrepreneurship is based on strong and continually developing business idea and the expertise of their own sector. It is essential for the future of Finland that the Finnish SMEs are created, grow and become international. This requires solving the problems in risk financing, commercialization, business expertise and internationalization.
In our opinion:
The starting financing of a new entrepreneur needs to be made a permanent alternative and it should be available for a period of one year. The efficiency of financing subsidies needs to be improved especially in the start-up stage.
For a small company, employing the first employee is a big step that should be made easier by abolisging for a term the indirect labor costs due to the first employee.
The cooperation between organizations mediating government business subsidies needs to improve and the administration overlaps abolished. The applicants need to be handled by admission groups so that they are guided to the correct source of financing.
The social benefits, holiday and retirement systems of the micro entrepreneurs need to be developed equally with those of other groups.
Publically funded export promotion efforts need to offer a seamless and extensive selection of services to the companies. Especially export of services needs to be developed.
Retirement funds need to be invested more in Finnish growth companies.
European Union agricultural policy needs to be applied so that natural circumstances are carefully taken into consideration in the entire are of Finland. Maintenance security of central food stuffs, production corresponding national consumption and food maintenance are security issues. The livelihood in the countryside needs to be made more versatile by improving the conditions for secondary occupation of farmers and for other small scale entrepreneurship. The production requirements of agriculture need to be secured in the entire country.
Therefore:
The 141-subsidy for farms in Southern Finland needs to be made permanent. The goal needs to be a long-term and unified subsidy system for the entire Finland. The goal is to increase the profitability of the farms and the farming income per farm.
The share of organic farming needs to increase and organic products need to be further developed into export goods.
The farm closure compensation system needs to be flexible and encouraging.
The farming subsidy administration, inspection and monitoring system needs to be made simpler. The subsidy payment schedule needs to be scaled in a meaningful fashion.
The occupational health services, social benefits, holiday and retirement systems of the farmers need to be developed equally with those of other professional groups.
The load on the water system caused by agriculture and water farming need to be cut.
A national forest program needs to be drafted, which takes into consideration the versatile uses of the forest in a balanced manner.