€3 million in job search aid for redundant Finnish and Irish workers

Finland will get EU aid worth €2.6 million to help find new jobs for 1,200 redundant IT workers, following a vote in Parliament on Tuesday. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid was approved by Council of the EU on 14 December.

The aid was approved by 597 votes to 83, with 13 abstentions.

Finnish software firms

Sixty-nine Finnish computer programming firms let staff go in the autumn of 2014 and the spring of 2015, after Nokia and Microsoft software development orders ceased and global competition accelerated. As a result, software development and operating system design tasks that used to employ thousands of Finns were transferred to countries outside Europe. Most of the redundancies were in the area around Helsinki, and in the northern half of Finland, where the unemployment rate is relatively high (11% and 15.7%, respectively, compared to 9.7% in Finland as a whole)..

Finland applied for €2,623,200 in EGF aid which covers 60% of the overall costs of reintegrating the workers into jobs. MEPs asked the Commission to oversee and to evaluate the use of the money granted in response to the application.

Background

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund contributes to packages of tailor-made services to help redundant workers find new jobs. Its annual ceiling is €150 million.

Redundant workers are offered measures such as support for business start-ups, job-search assistance, occupational guidance and various kinds of training. In most cases, national authorities have already started the measures and will have their costs reimbursed by the EU when their applications are finally approved.

REF. : 20151210IPR06847