The Finnish government is working to establish a state-owned company that would employ about 1,000 people with partial working capacity.
The company’s goal – which the board proposes to call Work channel (roughly translated into a work channel) – is to help people with limited employment opportunities due to a disability or illness and to help them find their way into the labor market.
Minister for Economic Affairs and Labor at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon Tuula Haatainen (SDP) said the government parties have submitted a proposal to Parliament.
"The right and opportunity to work according to one’s abilities are important not only for the partially incapable of work but also for the entire Finnish society," Haatainen said. "From this group of people, Work channel can employ the most vulnerable people, whose employment prospects have not yet improved significantly despite various measures and services."
The company is based on a similar model called Samhall, which has been operating in Sweden for several years.
The Finnish government intends to start phasing in the company’s operations from next year, when the project gets the green light from Parliament.
Source: The Nordic Page