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Minister Lintilä: Legislation on skills and competence should be reformed as a package

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
Publication date 20.6.2018 9.45
Press release

“Updating employees’ skills throughout their careers must be reformed as a package, in my opinion. Now, there are at least four ministries responsible for different aspects of the relevant legislation. I propose a review identifying ways to bring all this legislation into one package,” Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä said in his address at the publication event for the report Work in the age of artificial intelligence, held at the House of the Estates in Helsinki on 20 June 2018.

"No one examines the big picture; people are in different kinds of life situations, they work for different kinds of employers and have different kinds of trainings needs, and they see skills development from their own perspectives. We have a clear need for a skills curve that brings together all relevant legislation. In this way, people could better identify their rights, possibilities and obligations,” Minister Lintilä said.

“Technological advancements will transform our work and occupations. Some jobs will disappear, and others will emerge. Robots or artificial intelligence will become our fellow workers, dealing with routine work. We cannot predict the scale of future changes, but it is certain that work and skills requirements will change. We can prepare for this change with education and training,” Lintilä said.

“Creating new kinds of skills will require additional funding. There is still a lot to discuss regarding who will be responsible for funding education and training and who will organise them. The skills account proposed in the report would offer an interesting opportunity for developing demand-based education and training,” Minister Lintilä said.

The report Work in the age of artificial intelligence collates information on how artificial intelligence will transform work and the labour market. The working group, chaired by Osmo Soininvaara, proposes a number of policy recommendations on how to develop employees’ skills, among other topics. The report is part of the Artificial Intelligence Programme, which was set up by Minister Lintilä and is led by Pekka Ala-Pietilä. The report is available at www.tem.fi/julkaisut and more information about the Artificial Intelligence Programme is available at aiera.fi.

Inquiries:
Jukka Ihanus, Special Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, tel. +358 50 463 9929

 
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