In the 200-plus page government programme published on Friday, we at the YTK were inspired by a single sentence. It went like this: "Unemployment funds will be given the opportunity to provide employment services to their customers."  

So unemployment funds are being given the opportunity to support the employment of their members, as we had hoped. We believe that this is an excellent step towards more modern unemployment funds that serve both their members and society better.  

The government's programme, if implemented, will also bring about a real tightening up of unemployment protection, which will further increase the importance of our being able to help our members into employment. You can read more about them in our summary story.

Throughout the spring, we have been actively communicating through various channels why it would be worthwhile for unemployment funds to be allowed to help their members into employment. The benefits are manifold: the unemployed get additional support for employment, employers get new labour, and members get lower membership fees over time. You can read more about our rationale and objectives here.

So now we have a commitment to employment in the government programme, which is great, but only the beginning of the journey. It will take time to get through the various entries in the long programme. All the objectives have to go through the bureaucratic and legislative process and be approved by Parliament. So we are not yet confident about when we will be able to offer employment services to all our members.  

There is a strong demand, at least from our own members, for a swift implementation of this objective. This becomes clear when you read the feedback we received from our "Should the law be changed?" campaign. Here are some of them:  

"The unemployment fund should definitely have the possibility to inform about job vacancies and training. There is a need for job vacancies, job openings and job openings should be made available. Good idea."  

"I myself was unemployed for a long time and I think that all means to help people find a job should be allowed and used." 

"Great! No one is excluded from this, on the contrary. Great thinking outside the box."

At the YTK, we want to support the enactment of the amendment to the law allowing employment support for unemployment funds as far as we can.

We will help the legislator to draft the new articles in such a way that we can sensibly organise efficient and appropriate employment services to support our members.