The labour market situation has been improving, but rather slowly. Growth in the number of employed was slower than expected at the end of 2010, and the unemployment rate has remained around 8% since last September. The key challenge for economic policy in Finland is to restore the sustainability of the public finances, weakened by the recession.
The recession caused a deep reduction in both central and local government tax receipts and increased the level of government debt. In addition to the cost of servicing the debt, the general government balance will also be compromised in the future by increasing age-related expenditure. Conclusion Recent months have seen signs of a renewed pick-up in world growth.