TE services 2024 reform
As of 2025, you can turn to your municipality when you need employment and economic development services (TE services). The background to this is the reform of legislation, in which responsibility for organising employment and business services will be transferred from the state to municipalities and employment areas on 1 January 2025. Vaasa is in charge of the employment area in Ostrobothnia.
The reform focuses on the residents of the municipality: among other things, the reform aims to improve the availability and diversity of employment services and to speed up the process of finding a job by providing services locally in the municipality. The reform will also empower municipalities to develop services based on the needs of their own residents and employers in the area, thus strengthening the vitality and competitiveness of the regions.
Vaasa leads the employment region of Ostrobothnia
The reform states that responsibility for organising TE services can be transferred either to a municipality or to a cooperative area made up of several municipalities with a labour force base of at least 20 000 people. This will ensure that sufficient resources are available to organise TE services and that they are equally accessible to job seekers throughout Finland.
Vaasa is the only municipality in the Ostrobothnia region that on its own meets the criteria required by the law. Therefore, in accordance with the decision of the City Board of 5 March 2023, Vaasa has started to organise the employment area on the basis of the responsible municipality model.
The following municipalities in Ostrobothnia form the Ostrobothnian Employment Region (links to the municipalities’ websites):
As a joint decision-making body of these municipalities, a committee will be established within the organisation of the City of Vaasa.
Preparatory work in Ostrobothnia
Vaasa is preparing the transfer of TE services in close cooperation with ministries, TE services, ELY centres, KEHA centre, municipalities, and other stakeholders. Services will continue seamlessly for customers and the change will not require any action from them.
The reform will be created in preparatory working groups, which will be divided between different sectors. The groups will be composed of representatives of municipalities in the cooperation area, experts from the existing TE service and representatives of key stakeholders (for example, development agencies, welfare region).
The legislation on integration will also be reformed in 2025
In the context of the reform of the TE services, responsibility for promoting the integration of all migrant clients of the TE services will also be transferred to the municipalities. The aim of the KOTO24 reform is to strengthen the employment of migrants and clarify the responsibilities of the actors involved.