Labour and taxation

By far the majority of Finns (roughly two-thirds) are employed in the service sector. The next largest source of employment and still significant is manufacturing, while the proportion of those involved in the increasingly marginalized agricultural sector is very small. Finland’s largest employer organization is the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (formerly called the Finnish Employers’ Confederation); the largest trade union groups are the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions and the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals.

Employment has long been seen as a self-evident right for women in Finland, which has one of the highest rates of employment for women in Europe, with about nine-tenths of Finnish women employed full-time. On the whole, women workers are slightly better educated than their male counterparts and are more unionized; however, Finnish women are still paid only about seven-tenths of what men earn for the same job. To support the participation of women and parents in the workplace, Finland has a comprehensive system of maternal and paternal leave for new parents.

Income taxes in Finland are higher than those for many other industrialized countries, with the taxation of above-average incomes especially heavy. Finland’s value-added tax is among the highest in the European Union. Excise duties on liquid fuels, automobiles, alcohol, and tobacco are also high, while those on food, public transportation, books, and medicine are typically reduced.

Transportation and telecommunications

Until the mid-20th century the problems posed for internal communications and transport by Finland’s difficult terrain and weather conditions had hardly been tackled, and many communities remained isolated. External communications were mainly by sea, which, especially as a result of the period of Swedish rule, accounts for the series of well-developed ports on the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland.

The country also has an extensive network of navigable waterways comprising lakes, rivers, and canals. Many thousands of miles of additional waterways are suitable for the flotage of felled timber, but truck and rail transport is rendering this practice obsolete in many areas. In 1963 the Soviet Union leased to Finland the Soviet end of the canal linking Lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland; it was opened in 1968. Most of Finland’s overseas cargoes are carried in its own merchant marine. The country has a passenger-liner service, and car ferries operate to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Estonia, Russia, and Poland.

Finland now has a good system of highways and roads—of which about two-thirds are paved—but the lakes in the southeast tend to make routes indirect there, while north of the Arctic Circle the roads are still few. Bridges and car ferries assist road travel in the lakeland areas and in the island archipelagoes. The bus system is highly developed throughout Finland and is widely utilized.

The railway system is much less adequate than that of the roads; the southwestern part of the country is the best-served area. The railways, which provide connections with Russia, are state-owned; about one-third of the rail lines are electrified. In 1982 Finland’s first subway was inaugurated in Helsinki.

In addition to the international air terminal near Helsinki, Finland has domestic airports, the most northerly of which is at Ivalo, at Lake Inari. Finnair, the national airline, offers domestic and international service.

Not only was Finland quick to develop its telecommunications and information technology industry, but Finns also rapidly made new technology part of their lives. At the turn of the 21st century, Finland had the among the largest per capita numbers of mobile telephone and Internet users in the world.

Constitutional framework

Finland adopted a republican constitution in 1919; it has been amended several times, notably in the mid-1990s. Legislative power rests in the unicameral parliament (Eduskunta), whose members are elected for four-year terms, and in the president, whose term is six years. Executive power is shared by the president and the Council of State, or cabinet, the meetings of which are chaired by the president. The president appoints the prime minister and the cabinet. A clause in the constitution stresses that government ministers are responsible to the parliament.

The six-year term of office and the possibility of reelection enhance the president’s powers and provide the country with an important source of stability, in view of the frequent changes of government caused by the multiparty system. In cases of complete deadlock, the president can appoint a nonpolitical caretaker government. Government bills can be introduced into the parliament in the president’s name; the president can refuse to sign a bill but must endorse it if it is passed in a subsequent parliament. The president also can dissolve the parliament, has certain decree-making powers, and is the head of the armed forces. Moreover, the president conducts the country’s foreign policy, but decisions on major treaties and questions of war and peace must be validated by the parliament.

Local government

Finland is divided into 19 maakunnat (regions; singular maakunta), including the autonomous region of Åland (Ahvenanmaa). Each regular maakunta is governed by a council. The country was divided into 12 läänit (provinces) until 1997, when that number was reduced to five, plus the autonomous territory of Åland, all of which were subdivided into maakunnat. In 2010, however, the läänit were abolished, and the existing maakunnat divisions became the primary administrative units. To aid with the transition, six regional state administrative agencies were established that same year to work with the local authorities. The regional state administrative agencies assisted in such areas as basic public services, health, safety, and environmental protection. Finland is further divided into more than 300 local authorities (municipalities), the majority of which have fewer than 10,000 residents.

Åland has special status as a demilitarized, self-governing region. The Act on the Autonomy of Åland (1920), settled by a decision of the League of Nations (1921), provided for Finnish sovereignty over Åland, predicated on a division of political power between the islands and the rest of Finland. Åland has its own parliament (Lagtinget), flag, and representative on the Nordic Council.