Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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While changing demographics will contract the labour market, especially for
skilled workers, the management of public servants, especially in terms of
upgrading their skills and competencies, can have a positive influence on the
labour market overall. These considerations should be fully recognised in
strategic policies for the development of the city and the region. Initiatives
already taken in this area are the Regional Development Plan‘s sections on
human skills development in the health sector and projects to increase
recruitment from the Swedish side of the Öresund.
Box 3.4. Ageing and the productivity programme: the case of
Finland
In only a few years, for the first time in its history, Finland will have more
citizens aged over 65 than under 20, and the proportion of this population will
increase more rapidly than in most OECD member countries. Compared to other
EU countries, Finland will be heavily affected by the ageing of its society. The
country has distinguished itself for its level of commitment to improving its
ageing policies. In addition, as in other OECD countries, ageing will also affect
public sector capacity, with large-scale retirements and an increase in the
percentage of older workers already under way.
The Finnish government has undertaken a comprehensive horizontal ageing
strategy, encompassing both the public and private sectors, but including a
specific policy framework for the public sector. While the two main policy
programmes of the ageing strategy – the Central Government Spending Limits,
2006–2009, and the Productivity Programme for the Public Sector, 2005-15 –
are often pictured as head-count cut initiatives, their purpose is to adapt human
resources in government to the upcoming major ageing challenge. They have
also seen the opportunity involved in the imminent large-scale departures from
public service for reallocating human resources across sectors and changing the
mix of skills. In addition to some staff reduction, the Finnish public sector
ageing strategy encompasses systemic reform of both the public service –
through staff renewal and workforce readjustments, but also institutional
restructuring and reform of public service delivery – and HR policy at the
central level, aiming at adapting managerial tools, especially through an active
retention policy for older workers and mobility reforms.
The Finnish ageing strategy is based on structural forecasts and a continuing
evolution of the delivery of public services. According to the Finnish
government‘s ageing platform – Finland for People of All Ages, launched in
2004 – some of the greatest challenges will be to safeguard and finance current
levels of service provision. Large institutional restructuring and reallocations of
public expenditures, between levels of government and sectors, have already
started, in response to new public service demands. In this respect, Finland is
more of an exception than the rule.
Source: Ageing and the public service, OECD, 2007, pp. 120-137