The blue collar union federation SAK reports that some 10,865 workers were laid off after co-determination talks in 2016, or about 2,000 less than the previous year. There were also fewer employer-initiated legally mandated consultations about redundancies, according the federation.
Last year's decrease is the lowest number of layoffs since the year 2011, despite the ones which were carried out by large corporations like Microsoft Mobile (with 1,350 layoffs), retailer Anttila (1,300 job cuts) and Nokia (1,032 layoffs).
SAK says that both the industrial and hotel and restaurant sectors saw improvement last year.
There was a 20 percent decrease in layoffs in the industrial sector, according to the group.
However, the union federation warned that planned education cuts by government could have a negative effect on what they characterised as the positive improvements.
SAK leaders say it would likely become difficult to find competent workers in the future if the education sector is weakened.