Coronavirus outbreak deepens employment crisis

Redundancies and temporary lay-offs due to the coronavirus pandemic are rising at an alarming pace in Finland.

As on April 1, about 9,000 employees were made redundant since March 16 and the number of temporary lay-offs was 58,000, said a press release issued by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK).

A total of 3,670 companies have called for co-operation negotiations and on April 2, a total of 332,973 people faced unemployment risk.

The number, given by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, however, included only companies with 20 or more employees, as the smaller companies have no legal obligation to report their temporary lay-offs and redundancies to the authorities.

Meanwhile, all the restaurants and cafes of the country will remain closed from April 4 to end of May (only take-away service is allowed), which is set TO exacerbate the unemployment crisis further.

Many major industrial companies, such as Stora Enso, Tikkurila, UPM, SSAB, Fiskars, Konecranes, Wärtsilä, and Outotech, are doing the same.