Helsinki parents continue to be incensed about the city’s plans to cut the home care allowance paid to families caring for toddlers at home.
Helsingin Sanomat’s most-read story on Monday explores the topic from the perspective of families and experts, including Children’s Ombudsman Elina Pekkarinen who told HS, "the majority of parents want to care for their children at home until they’re about a year and a half. I don’t know of any research which supports placing children in care if they have a good home situation."
The city has also said it wants immigrant families to place their children in daycare earlier to help support their integration.
"If the point is to get immigrants to study and work, then measures should be targeted more directly...most likely these changes will just lead to people making do with less," said psychologist Anu Heikkilä.
Helsinki currently pays parents 264 euros monthly for each child under the age of 18 months and 218 monthly for children between the ages of 18 and 24 months. The city now plans to curtail the duration of the benefit to apply to children under the age of 12 months.
City councillors are set to finalise their decision--estimated to save Helsinki some five million euros--on 9 December.
Time to tax trade unions?
Trade unions’ investment portfolios have performed exceptionally well, finds an investigation by business daily Kauppalehti.
In 2019, Finland’s largest welfare sector union JHL saw its investment profits reach 52 percent. In comparison, the portfolios of pension firms Ilmarinen and Varma gained around 12 percent.
As nonprofits, trade unions are tax-exempt. KL found that major trade unions in Finland have significant hidden assets, including real estate and investment profits totalling tens of millions of euros.
Trendy chicken
Finns have developed a taste for chicken over the past decade, says business magazine Talouselämä. While red meat consumption continues to fall, people are increasingly choosing chicken as a low-fat alternative. Meat processing firms in the country are pivoting to build their businesses around the bird.
Today Finns eat an average of 28 kilos of poultry a year, up from 17 kilos in 2008.
"The growth has been unbelievable. All trends point to chicken," said Jari Leija of Finnish food group HKScan.
Food firm Atria meanwhile projects that Finns will be consuming more than 34 kilos of poultry annually by 2030, rising to some 37 kilos in 2040.
TE, however, notes that poultry ethics may curb appetites for the meat, particularly relating to fast-growth breeds which mature for slaughter in as little as five weeks.