Annual Report
1 Jan–31 Dec 2023
2023
2Annual report 2023 Contents
Contents
ANNUAL REPORT 2023
3 The year of Employment Fund in
brief
4 Managing Director’s review
7 Keyfigures2023
8 Strategy, mission, vision and
values
11 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
12 Duties of Employment Fund
14 Cooperation with stakeholders
15 Customer service at Employment
Fund
17 Unemployment insurance
contributions
25 Adulteducationbenefits
35 Finance
38 Investment activities
41 Sustainability
46 Risk management
48 Personnel
51 Eventsafterthefinancialperiod
52 Corporate governance
65 Remuneration report
70 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
71 Financial Statements (IFRS) 2023
74 Notestothefinancialstatements
115 Auditor’s report
3Annual report 2023
The year of Employment Fund in brief
The employment situation in Finland remained good and as a result, the
Fundpostedaclearprofitsurplusfortheyear.
The announced abolition
ofadulteducationbenefits
prompted a major change
projectintheFund.
We provided EUR
2,934
million for the funding
of unemployment and
pension security and
adulteducationbenefits.
From the beginning of
the year, we have been
collecting transition
security contributions from
employerstofinancethenew
transitionsecurityscheme.
Key matters in 2023
4Annual report 2023
Managing Director’s review
Managing Director’s review
Employment Fund experienced successes
and achieved many of its objectives during
2023.However,theFundalsoexperienced
unpleasant surprises that changed our
plansforthesecondhalfoftheyear.
At the start of the year, we successfully
deployed our new information system for
collecting and processing transition secu-
ritycontributions.Weincreasedthedegree
of automation in the processing of appli-
cations for adult education allowances and
extended the automated decision-making
to applications for continued eligibility for
theallowance.
Employment Fund’s Board of Directors
approved the new strategic objectives for
theFundinMay.Inlinewiththeupdated
objectives, we produce digital services reli-
ably and with high quality, we increase pro-
ductivityandefficiency,wecreateanexcel-
lentcustomerandpersonnelexperience.
In our role as an executor of social security,
we put great emphasis on social responsi-
bilityinouroperations.In2022and2023,
we prepared a sustainability concept for
the Fund to support the achievement of the
sustainable development goals set by the
UNinits2030Agenda.Sustainabilityis
alsoreflectedinsuchareasasourinvest-
mentactivities,acquisitionofdebtfinanc-
ing,andourequalityanddiversitywork.
CUSTOMER SURVEY PRODUCED
NEW INFORMATION ON THE USE OF
ADULT EDUCATION ALLOWANCES
In spring, we examined why recipients of
adult education allowance decide to take
up studies, how they perceive the impact of
the allowance on work careers and wheth-
er they feel that they have achieved their
goals.Thiswasthefirstsuchsurveyin
the history of the adult education allow-
anceandnearly5,000personstookpart.
Career changing plans, high work load
experienced in the current job, and the
desire for career advancement were
5Annual report 2023
key reasons behind the decision to take up
studiesduringtheworkcareer.Quantita-
tive and qualitative responses showed that
the recipients use the allowances respon-
sibly and in a diverse manner to tackle
challengesarisinginworkinglife.
We published the results of the customer
survey on the perceived impact of the adult
education allowances in a seminar on 15
June.TheProgrammeofPrimeMinister
Petteri Orpo’s Government was published
the following day and it was stated in an
appendix to the document that the adult
education allowance scheme would be
abolished.Thiswasfollowedbyanan-
nouncement that the scholarship scheme
forqualifiedemployeeswouldalsoend.
ABOLITION OF THE ADULT EDUCATION
BENEFITS IS A MAJOR CHANGE FOR
THE FUND AND OUR CUSTOMERS
Discontinuation of the adult education
benefitsisamajorchangeforEmployment
Fund even though our other statutory tasks
willnotbeaffected.Terminationofthe
allowance scheme will also have substan-
tialimpactsonourpersonnel.Infact,the
focus in the second half of 2023 was on
change management and preparation for
thechange.Atthesametime,weproduced
information on the implementation of the
adult education allowance scheme for the
media and our stakeholders, compiled an
assessment of various development pro-
posals, and communicated extensively
withourcustomers.
The Government proposal for the act abol-
ishingtheadulteducationbenefitswas
submittedtoParliamentinFebruary2024.
Thefinalformandapprovaloftheactare
still pending, and it has not yet been decid-
ed whether the adult education allowance
scheme will be replaced with other types of
support.TheMinistryofSocialAffairsand
Healthhasappointedaworkinggroupto
examine how continuous learning should
besupported.Theworkwillbeconcluded
attheendofMarch2024.
Managing Director’s review
6Annual report 2023
POSITIVE TREND IN EMPLOYMENT
ALLOWED SUBSTANTIAL LOWERING
OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR 2024
For Employment Fund, the year 2023 was
characterised by good economic perfor-
mance.Theemploymentsituationre-
mained good and as a result, the Fund
posted a clear surplus for the year and our
business cycle buffer was approaching its
maximumamount.Moreover,theeconomic
and employment outlook as well as the fact
that the measures set out in the Govern-
ment Programme are estimated to decrease
expenditure prompted us to propose a sub-
stantial reduction in unemployment insur-
ancecontributionsfor2024.
The changes to unemployment security en-
visaged in the Government Programme will
havelimitedimpactontheexpenditurefi-
nanced by the Fund in 2024, but the impact
willbegreaterinthecomingyears.
In autumn 2023, a working group was ap-
pointed to examine how the savings accu-
mulated by social insurance funds could be
channelledtobenefitcentralgovernment
finances.Aspartitswork,theworking
group is also examining the channelling of
the savings accumulated by Employment
Fund.Wehaveprovidedtheworkinggroup
with information on our activities and held
discussionswithpublicofficials.Thetasks
of Employment Fund are laid down in the
law.Ourmaintaskistofinanceunemploy-
ment security and other separately speci-
fiedsocialsecuritywiththeunemployment
insurance contributions that we collect
fromemployersandemployees.Allassets
that we collect are intended for the fund-
ing tasks that we carry out as part of our
statutoryobligations.Itisimportantthat
under the legislation based on the working
group’s proposals and the Government’s de-
cisions, the Fund will be able to manage the
financingofunemploymentsecurityand
other social insurance and to use the busi-
nesscyclebuffertobalancefluctuationsin
contributions.
The activities of Employment Fund are
based on the work input of skilled and com-
petentpersonnel.Duringthesecondhalfof
2023, we lived in uncertainty trying to pre-
pare for the change without knowing the
finalcontentoftheproposalforabolishing
theadulteducationbenefits.Ourpersonnel
are change-capable and work together for a
commongoal.Workingtogetherisourkey
resource.Thisisdemonstratedbythefact
that despite the change and uncertainty, we
were able to provide our customers with an
excellent customer experience and perform
allourstatutorytasksimpeccably.
JANNE METSÄMÄKI
Managing Director
Managing Director’s review
7Annual report 2023
Key figures 2023
Keyfigures2023
ThefiguresareinEURmillion.
Income 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Change EUR Change %
Employer contribution income 1,238 993 1,160 1,327 1,413 86 6%
Employee contribution income 1,379 1,073 1,241 1,424 1,490 66 5%
Government contributions 688 1,248 911 717 704 -13 -2%
Liability component and transition security contribution
income
39 26 23 22 20 -2 -9%
Total income 3,345 3,340 3,335 3,491 3,627 137 4%
Expenses 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Change EUR Change %
Unemployment funds, Employment Fund’s contributions -954 -1,372 -1,463 -1,039 -1,098 60 6%
Unemployment funds, government’s contributions -685 -1,245 -909 -714 -700 -14 -2%
Finnish Centre for Pensions -577 -870 -902 -596 -600 4 1%
Social Insurance Institution of Finland -206 -207 -239 -243 -263 20 8%
Adulteducationbenefits -187 -197 -186 -189 -201 12 6%
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment -24 -25 -14 -20 -30 10 52%
State Pension Fund -8 -9 -11 -8 -8 -1 -6%
Administrative expenses -19 -21 -26 -23 -34 11 48%
Total expenses -2,659 -3,947 -3,750 -2,832 -2,934 102 4%
Net financial income 8 -16 3 -34 69
Change in net position 694 -623 -412 625 763
Net position 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Change EUR Change %
Investment assets and cash and cash equivalents 1,020 1,831 1,339 1,885 1,869 -16 -1%
Receivables,accrualsandfixedassets 725 593 679 818 859 42 5%
Short-term and long-term loans 0 1,287 1,299 1,299 599 -700 -54%
Unemployment insurance contribution and other liabilities 78 92 86 146 109 -38 -26%
Net position 1,668 1,045 633 1,258 2,021 763 61%
8Annual report 2023
Strategy, mission, vision and values
Strategy, mission, vision and values
The strategy of Employment
Fund comprises its mission,
vision, strategic goals and
values.
Our mission is to
provide security for
changes in working life
.Ourvisionistobe
asuperiorexecutorofsocialsecurity.
Ourvaluesare:ourcustomerscomefirst;
werenew,weevolve,weact;weareaunited
team.
In May 2023, the Fund’s Board of Direc-
tors approved our updated strategic goals,
which are based on the strategy and sce-
narioworkstartedin2022.Wesummarised
our strategic goals as follows:
• We produce digital services reliably and
withhighquality.
• Weincreaseproductivityandefficiency,
we create an excellent customer and
personnelexperience.
The emphasis in our objectives is on ef-
ficientandreliablemanagementofour
statutory tasks and utilisation of digitalisa-
tion.Theimportanceofthecurrentdevel-
opment projects and the aim of enhancing
ourITcapabilitiesarealsoreflectedinthe
objectives.
Providing security
for changes in
working life
9Annual report 2023
Employment Fund’s strategy
Values
Vision
Superior
executor of
social security
Our customers
come first
We renew
We evolve
We act
We are a
united team
Strategic goals
Mission
Providing security for
changes in working life
Forces of change
Evolving requirements for competences and education
Changes in the social security system
Fragmentation and unpredictability of political decision-making
Changes in education and study methods
Changes in work, working life and livelihood
Development, stability and requirements of the financial markets
Sosioeconomic polarisation of regions and citizens
Expectations of customers and stakeholders, changes in consumer behaviour
Requirements/expectations for public service integration − one-stop shop
We increase productivity and efficiency,
we create an excellent customer and
personnel experience
We produce digital services
reliably and with high quality
Strategy, mission, vision and values
10Annual report 2023 Strategy, mission, vision and values
We update the integrations and architec-
ture and implement the changes and meas-
uresspecifiedintheregulatoryframework.
We increase the level of automation in a
controlled manner to improve services and
toboostefficiency.
Thanks to our efforts, the customer expe-
rienceisnowatagoodlevel.Wearedeter-
minedtoimproveitfurther.Enhancingthe
employee experience is also a key objective
ofEmploymentFund.
In 2023, we promoted our objectives by
proceeding with strategic development
projects and by strengthening the IT capa-
bilitiesrequiredaspartofdigitalisation.
We monitored the achievement of these
goals,givingprioritytoefficiency,customer
experience, and staff satisfaction indica-
tors.TheFund’sBoardofDirectorsmoni-
tors progress on the objectives on a regular
basis and assesses the need to update the
strategyinitsstrategymeetingeachyear.
MISSION
Providing security for
changes in working life
VISION
Superior executor of social
security
VALUES
Ourcustomerscomefirst
We renew, we evolve, we act
We are a united team
Thanks to our efforts, the customer
experienceisnowatagoodlevel.
11
Report of
the Board of
Directors
12Report of the Board of Directors 2023
Duties of Employment Fund
Duties of Employment Fund
Employment Fund’s main
dutiesaretofinance
unemploymentbenefits,
determine and collect
unemployment insurance
contributions, and grant adult
educationbenefits.
We collect the unemployment insurance
contributions paid by employers and em-
ployees.Wedeterminetheunemployment
insurance contributions on the basis of the
information reported by the employers to
theIncomesRegister.Parliamentapproves
the contribution rates by passing a bill on
thecontributionseachyear.
The Fund maintains a business cycle
buffer arising from the difference between
its income and expenses, and its purpose
is to keep increases in contributions at
moderatelevels.Withthebuffer,wecan
ease the upward pressure on contributions
when unemployment security expenditure
increases.
ThebenefitsfinancedbyEmploymentFund
include the unemployment allowance paid
by unemployment funds and the Social
Insurance Institution of Finland as well as
the adult education allowances and schol-
arshipsforqualifiedemployeespaiddirect-
lybytheFund.EmploymentFundisalso
responsibleforfinancingthetransition
securityscheme.
According to the Programme of Prime Min-
ister Petteri Orpo’s Government, the adult
education allowance scheme will be abol-
ishedfrom1August2024.Thescholarship
schemeforqualifiedemployeeswouldalso
bediscontinuedfromthesamedate.
Wearealsoresponsibleforfinancingthe
earnings-related pensions accrued during
the periods when daily unemployment
allowances, job alternation compensation
andadulteducationallowancesarepaid.
We remit a payment amounting to the basic
daily allowance paid by the state to contrib-
ute to the daily unemployment allowances
paidbyunemploymentfunds.
Employment Fund’s operations are su-
pervised by the Financial Supervisory
Authority.
6.8%
7.7%
6.8%
7.2%
%
EUR
million
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Employment Fund’s financing
for unemployment funds
Financing contributions paid to
unemployment funds, EUR million
Unemployment rate, %
1
0
1,639
2,618
2,372
1,753
1,799
7.7%