The South Karelia employment area will start operating on January 1.1.2025,

The city of Lappeenranta announces that at the beginning of 2025, the responsibility for organizing public employment services will be transferred from the state to the municipalities. The current TE offices will be abolished. As a result of the reform, 45 employment regions will be formed in Finland, which will be responsible for the tasks of the labor authority and the organization of related services from January 1.1.2025, XNUMX. 

- Even if the TE offices are abolished, the residents of South Karelia, as well as companies and employers, will continue to receive public labor and business services from the same address as today. The premises remain the same. The biggest change is that the city of Lappeenranta will be responsible for labor services for the residents and companies of the entire South Karelia province from the beginning of the year, says the employment director of the South Karelia employment region, who started his job in mid-August Sanna Natunen.

Most of the employment areas in Finland organize their services on the responsible municipality model, four municipalities organize their services themselves and two areas on the municipal association model. 

- In South Karelia, the city of Lappeenranta acts as the responsible municipality. The reform brings more tools to municipalities to promote employment and vitality, and services closer to municipal residents, which increases the accessibility and effectiveness of employment services. The goal is that all these factors together support faster employment of job seekers and promote the vitality of the entire region in addition to employment, Natunen continues.

The reform has been prepared in good cooperation

In South Karelia, about 130 labor services professionals will transfer from the state, Southeast Finland TE office, ELY center and KEHA center to the city of Lappeenranta. The South Karelia employment area will also be responsible for South Karelia's immigration services, which will increase the number of employment services personnel to nearly 140.

- The preparation schedule has been tight, but the work has progressed in South Karelia with very good cooperation. There are currently 35 different organizations involved in the preparation. The transferring staff has also participated very actively in the preparation, thanks Natunen.

Municipalities have a good starting point to take on the new statutory task and develop an even better-targeted set of services that takes into account the special features of the local labor market and the skills needs of companies. 

- The reform is not only about promoting employment. The range of methods for strengthening vitality in the entire province is growing, and this requires the coordination of the cooperation of different actors. Our goal is that the employment area brings different actors together, even after the preparation phase has ended, in matters related to the region's vitality, employment, skill development and integration, adds the transformation director Johanna Ilmoni From the city of Lappeenranta.

- Services and personnel are not intended to be simply transferred from the state to the municipalities. The reform has also been seen as an opportunity to develop employment services even more effectively. The preparation has taken into account, among other things, a stronger orientation of vocational education to improve employment in the region and to meet the needs of companies, as well as the promotion of integration in the management of employment. The role of municipalities in actively attracting talent to the region is still important, Natunen specifies.

The state allocates funding to the municipalities

At the same time, the responsibility for organizing employment services also constitutes a new state contribution task for the municipalities. In the future, funds will not be earmarked in the state budget for certain services, but the municipality will be able to decide on the use and allocation of funds. The board of labor and immigration services of South Karelia will issue its own budget proposal in mid-October. 

- The municipalities of South Karelia allocate funding to the employment area, and the budget will be a good 15 million euros annually, says Natunen. 
The reform also includes a so-called incentive funding model, when municipalities' responsibility for unemployment insurance funding is expanded. The expanding financial responsibility is compensated for by a separate increase in the state's share. The financial responsibility increases according to the duration of unemployment: the longer a person is unemployed, the larger part of the costs of labor market support, basic daily allowance and the basic part of earnings-related daily allowance is financed by the municipality.

- The municipalities themselves are responsible for the financing of unemployment insurance. Due to the encouraging funding model, the municipalities of South Karelia will continue to have an interest in investing in employment, education and strengthening vitality. It is indeed possible to achieve the goals set for the reform through the close cooperation of the region's municipalities and other actors in the region. The methods of cooperation that proved to be good during the preparation will be continued in the future as well, Natunen specifies.

The business locations will remain unchanged

Although the responsibility for organizing services in South Karelia will be transferred to the city of Lappeenranta, the business locations will remain unchanged, so the TE office's customers should not notice the change. The South Karelia employment area is still served at the service points of the TE offices in Lappeenranta and Imatra, and space solutions for integration services are being explored. The place where jobs and creators meet Työmarkkinatori.fi will continue to offer information, services and vacancies related to working life. The website of the South Karelia employment region can be found at www.lappeenranta.fi, and they will be updated during the fall.

South Karelia employment area

For more information:

employment director Sanna Natunen, South Karelia employment area, phone 040 522 9373, sanna. natunenlappeenranta.fi (sanna[dot]natunen[at]lappeenranta[dot]fi)
transformation director Johanna Ilmoni, City of Lappeenranta, phone 040 754 4710, johanna.ilmonilappeenranta.fi (johanna[dot]ilmoni[at]lappeenranta[dot]fi)

The bulletin was first published on 23.9.2024 September XNUMX.