Half a million local authority employees

Measured by the number of contracted FTEs (formerly known as man-years), the growth in the municipalities was 2.5 per cent compared to the 4th quarter of the previous year. Most of the growth occurred in primary school and health and social services, with an increase in contracted FTEs of 2.3 and 3.3 per cent respectively. In kindergartens and cultural activities on the other hand, there was a slight decrease in the number of contracted FTEs, amounting to about 1 per cent.

The county authorities with its 49 000 employees experienced a small increase in the number of employees as well as in the contracted FTEs of about 0.2 and 0.4 per cent, compared to the same period in 2015. Contracted FTEs dropped by 0.7 per cent in upper secondary education, which accounted for 34 000 contracted FTEs in the 4th quarter of 2016, amounting to 79.5 per cent of the total.

Increase in nursing and care services

The share of contracted FTEs performed by skilled personnel, i.e. personnel with qualifications in nursing or care services, has increased slightly. From a total of 138 000 contracted FTEs, the share has gone up from 71.4 to 71.9 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2016.