Topical issues

Each year, the Finnish Centre for Pensions grants a Pro Gradu Award to a distinguished Master’s thesis. Might your thesis be the next winner of the 2,000 euro award? Apply by 15 March 2022.

Earnings-related survivors’ pensions were reformed as of the beginning of 2022. As a result, both the surviving spouse’s pension and the orphan’s pension were amended. The amendments do not apply to surviving spouses whose spouse passed away before 2022. Tyoelake.fi has introduced a new calculator that can be used to calculate the pension received by the surviving spouse and the orphan(s).

The most common age of claiming the partial old-age pension is 61. When viewed by age cohort, every fifth person entitled to the pension claims it – men more often than women. This is revealed by a recent study conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions.

Some Finnish authorities have ruled that platform workers (for example, food couriers) are employees while others view them as self-employed. The contradictory rulings are unfortunate as it would be important for both platform companies and platform workers to clarify the social security of platform workers. Employees are insured by the employer; the self-employed have to insure themselves.

In 2020, the first-time insured under the earnings-related pension acts numbered 74,000, which is 25 per cent fewer than in 2019. The last time the number of young persons insured for the first time dipped was in the wake of the financial crisis in 2009. The average monthly earnings of Finnish employees in 2020 were …

Working abroad – within Europe or outside of it – increases in popularity. It also raises many questions.

The social security agreement between Finland and Japan will enter into force on 1 February 2022. Ville Skinnari, Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, and Takashi Murata, Japan’s Ambassador to Finland, exchanged notes on 25 November to bring the bilateral agreement into force. When the agreement enters into force, workers posted to a Contracting State will avoid double pension and unemployment insurance contributions.

Two of three pension recipients find it somewhat easy to cover everyday expenses. However, according to a fresh study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, one in ten reported great financial strain.

The renewed Pension Indicators offers an up-to-date perspective on the current status of Finnish pensions and on their realised and predicted development for those interested in pension policy. This new version of the publication is more illustrative and graphic than previous ones.

This year, Finland ranked seventh in the international Global Pension Index comparison. Although the country’s overall index value rose from 2020, Finland dropped two notches as Iceland and Norway passed it on the score board. Once again, the Finnish pension system was ranked the most transparent and reliable pension system in the world.