Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, has tasked the country’s labour market organisations to come up with pension reforms that will save the welfare state €1bn.

As reported in Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, Prime Minister Orpo discussed the reform with leaders of the main labour market organisations last Wednesday 27 September, before making a statement to the media.

The government is hopeful that the labour market organisations’ work on the reform will be ready in January 2025. In response to questions from the media, the Prime Minister said the pension reform would equate to about 0.4 percentage points of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) or €1bn.

He believes that this goal is in line with what the labour market organisations have themselves considered. “I believe that the goal is realistic,” the Prime Minister said.

It is not yet known what will be done to make the savings but the chairman of Finnish labour confederation, SAK, Jarkko Eloranta, reportedly dismissed speculation on what could be done, as they had only just heard the “exact goal”.

“But the pension system is quite simple. There are benefits, payments and a working age group. Those are the means that are being discussed,” he said.

STTK chairman, Antti Palola, added that investment returns were also being discussed.

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