The risk of unemployment and exclusion is highest among older people, people with disabilities and immigrants. Finland's National Action Plan for Employment states that the government seeks to prevent exclusion. This can be achieved by reducing structural unemployment and helping those in the weakest labour market position to return to labour market. It is also the aim of the government to improve the employment rate and to increase the average age for leaving the labour market by 2-3 years. For this purpose the primary nature of work and the economic incentive of accepting work are emphasised. Employers are encouraged to keep and hire ageing workers.
In order to improve the computer skills of citizens in accordance with the National Information Strategy for Education, Training and Research in the Information Society for 2000-2004, the following measures have been implemented and will continue:
A multi-sectoral Finnish policy on ageing encompasses all the central dimensions of life in society, i.e. working life and livelihood, health and functional capacity, the home and daily environment, communication and transport, education and culture, social welfare and health care, and social interaction and participation. Some central aims of the policy on ageing are also included in the Paavo Lipponen's second government platform in 1999. The national action plan of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health stresses the importance of the following fields of old age policy:
The general objective of the Finnish policy on ageing is to promote older people's well-being and possibilities to cope as independently as possible and to ensure that they receive good care. Social integration is an important principle of Finnish policy on ageing. A major challenge to policy is the realisation of the concept of a modern and active ageing in practice. Policy on ageing is carried out both on the national and local level. Pension security is uniform throughout the country. In other respects, the municipalities act rather independently, on the basis of legislation and national policy lines. The five State Provincial Offices are responsible for the State's regional administration. In practice, policy on ageing is decided largely in 452 municipalities, in accordance with local needs, resources and priorities. Finland's policy on ageing has been mostly government and municipal policy, with a clear emphasis on social welfare and health policy. To an increasing degree, however, more weight is being given to the importance of NGOs and other private-sector elements and to the responsibility of other segments of social policy.
Finland has about twenty national organisations for older people like pensioners' organisations, and associations for disabled war veterans and veterans. When regional and local chapters are included, the number of organisations and associations for older people is approximately one thousand.
In the Finnish Information Society strategies the emphasis is on people and their well-being. Technologically Finland is among the ones in front in the European Union. Furthermore, international competitiveness has been successfully combined with social responsibility. Finland aims to combine dynamic technology and economics with a social model, in which welfare is equally divided between all citizens. Competitive Information Society and welfare state are not contradictory; the competitive Information Society creates the economical basis for welfare state. Vice versa the competitiveness of ICT industry also profits from the social cohesion of the society.
The state has a central role in building the Finnish IS. The public sector promotes the development of user friendly technology and infrastructure and ensures access to information. The state has succeeded in supporting operational preconditions of the Finnish ICT industry, for example by deregulating the framework for information and communication technology.
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