A marked increase in redundancies in the service sector

Companies operating in the service sector dismissed 6,431 employees in 2014, whereas the number laid off the year before was 4,057. In industry the number of redundancies was smaller, a total of 3,126.

12,447 employees in all lost their jobs, according to statistics from the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK. In the year 2013 the number was 14,522. The statistics are based on the news published and do not include the municipal sector.

Major redundancies took place at the post company Itella - now Posti Group - who let 1,132 people go. Microsoft reduced their staff by 1,050. The retail chain Kesko shed 662 jobs and at Broadcom Finland 600 were let go.

In 2013 technology industry companies accounted for the bulk of personnel cuts, now it was the private services' turn. The fall of Nokia can still be seen, like in the redundancies by Microsoft which bought the Nokia mobile phone business.

Matti Tukiainen, the director of employment and collective bargaining at SAK, sees the employment situation in the service sector as being exceptionally grim.

”The service companies working both in the domestic market and in export are facing redundancies. Demand in the domestic market is being eaten away by the meagre growth in wage and salary earners’ purchasing power. Export is suffering from an overall poor European economic situation and the weakening of the Russian economy due to the Ukrainian crisis.”

Last year the number of employees to get a taste of mandatory consultation with regard to possible personnel cuts was a bit more than 109,000. In 2013 it was 120,000. The Act of Co-operation stipulates that in all undertakings with more than 20 employees, any planned redundancies are subject to mandatory consultation with personnel representatives.