Functioning of the service system: part-time work, fixed-term work and transitions to full-time work

This report has four main objectives. Firstly, it looks at the prevalence of part-time unemployment over time and the careers of those who hover on the interface between employment and unemployment. Secondly it examines if, after the introduction of the Incomes Register and payment-based adjustments, the unemployment security system includes incentive traps. Thirdly, it looks into how the employment and business services (TE services) promote acceptance of part-time and fixed-term employment by those who are wholly unemployed, and the full-time employment of the partially unemployed. Fourthly, it assesses if the employer's obligation to offer additional work to part-time workers is problematic from the employers' point of view. Both register and survey data (the unemployed, TE experts, employers) are used as input data for the analyses.

Our analysis indicates that the use of adjusted benefits has increased significantly between 2010 and 2019. Benefit periods, both those during which the person receives an adjusted benefit from the start and those during which the person’s full daily allowance is replaced by an adjusted benefit, often end with full-time employment. The periods during which a person transitions from benefit periods that start with an adjusted benefit to full-time employment tend to be short.

While the introduction of payment-based adjusted unemployment security and the Incomes Register have shortened payment delays, the reforms have not completely eliminated incentive and information traps.

According to a survey addressed to TE experts, partially unemployed jobseekers have had less access to TE services than the wholly unemployed.

The analysis did not find previously unidentified problems in the legislation on the employers’ obligation to provide additional work.

Responsible researcher: Tomi Kyyrä, [email protected], +358 295 519 427