Foreword

Giving people better opportunities to participate in the labour market is a key policy objective in all OECD and EU countries. More and better employment increases disposable income, strengthens economic growth and improves well-being. Well-tailored labour market and social protection policies are a key factor in promoting the creation of high-quality jobs and increasing activity rates. Such policies need to address pressing structural challenges, such as rapid population ageing and evolving skill needs, driven by digitalisation and the green transition. They should also foster social inclusion and mobilise all of society.

A major challenge that policy makers face is to make the most effective and efficient use of limited public funds. Knowing what policy measures work best requires the collection of the necessary data, careful planning of impact evaluations and use of their results to guide policy making. Advances in data collection and storage and modern computer power means that countries now have a greater ability than ever before to conduct evaluations of their policies using high-quality administrative data and survey data. Expertise is needed to conduct robust and credible policy evaluation but also effective communication of their results to inform policy makers.

The OECD is carrying out a set of reviews of labour market and social protection policies to encourage greater labour market participation and promote better employment opportunities, with a special focus on the most disadvantaged who face the greatest barriers to finding quality jobs. This includes a series of country studies, Connecting People with Jobs, which provide an assessment of how well active labour market policies (ALMPs) help all groups to move into productive and rewarding jobs, and policy recommendations for improving their effectiveness.

This report on Finland uses rich administrative data from different registers in Finland to evaluate the impact of two types of training measures for unemployed people: participation in the education system via the self-motivated training framework, and shorter courses of labour market training. The analysis looks at outcomes beyond the probability of employment and examines how the selected ALMPs affect different population groups. Furthermore, the report assesses the system of impact evaluation of ALMPs in place in Finland covering the whole cycle of evidence-based policy making from strategy and planning of evaluations, resources, data collection and evaluation methodologies to dissemination of evidence and their feeding into policy making. Finally, the report makes recommendations for improving the effectiveness of Finland’s ALMPs and strengthening the system of ALMP impact evaluations. The report has been undertaken within the framework of the OECD’s project with the European Commission to help countries raise the quality of the data collected and their use in the evaluation of the outcomes and effectiveness of labour market programmes.