Topical issues

A room full of experts gathered in Helsinki on 31 January 2025 to tackle issues of social security coordination and free movement of workers.

The short booklets “The ABCs of pensions for employees” and “The ABCs of pensions for the self-employed” have been updated. The online and printable two-page booklets provide key facts about earnings-related pensions for employees and the self-employed and are published by the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The figures are in 2025 prices.

Each year, the Finnish Centre for Pensions grants a Pro Gradu Award to a distinguished Master’s thesis. The award is 2,000 euros. Proposal for the award must be presented on 14 March 2025 at the latest.

According to the calculations of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, the reform strengthens pension financing. Estimated at the contribution level, the overall reform would reduce the pension contributions under the Employees Pensions Act (TyEL) by, on average, 1.5 percentage points. The equity weight will rise which will increase the pension assets. Pensions will be determined as before, and there will be no change to age limits up to 2030.

Employer, please make sure that your employee who works regularly in two or more EU countries has a valid A1 certificate. One certificate covers working in all EU countries.

The earnings-related pension introduced as part of the 2017 pension reform seems to work as planned – as a special pension for those who have worked in arduous jobs for a long time. A study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions shows that years-of-service pensioners have an average working life of 44 years at the age of 63 and have been exposed to physical stress during their working life.

A new age group, born in 1961, will reach its lowest retirement age as of late 2025. The partial old-age pension can be granted at age 62. Earnings-related pensions will increase by more than 1 per cent. We will get more detailed information about the upcoming pension reform.

The overall length of careers is growing rather slowly. A new study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions reveals that, for most Finns, working careers have lengthened, but for some, they have become even shorter than before.

As retirement ages are rising, concerns have been raised about the feasibility and social fairness of extending the working lives of those who already have long careers of demanding work. This is the theme at the webinar of the Finnish Centre for Pensions on Tuesday 14 January 2025. The webinar is in English.

Raising the retirement age has significantly delayed retirement. This has, among other things, raised the employment rate of 63-year-olds to nearly 60 per cent. Before the 2017 pension reform, only 34 per cent of people over 63 were in work.