Dire straits

My hairdresser, where I visited today, lies near one of my favorite cafeteria, Cafe Runo. There are lovely short story booklets of Eeva-Maria Lisko on the tables and I read one new story each time I visit there. In the basement there are some interesting arrangements, in the picture one of them.

Finnish economics has struggled for some time now and it's not looking better. Like Financial Times wrote earlier this summer: If Finland is the best Europe can do we should be worried

The following sad text is from the Yle's news today:

Only highly educated middle-class citizens and labourers are safe in Finnish society, according to sociology professor Juho Saari. Depression and loneliness caused by unemployment are up in Finland, and the poor are not treated well, the professor says.

Finnish employment figures are looking bleak, with no new jobs or economic upswings on the horizon. Long-term unemployment and the resulting poverty cause numerous problems in society. For many, the financial want is often short-term, and may not lead to health or welfare issues.

”Poverty comes with mental health problems, the crumbling of social networks and loneliness,” Saari continues. “It’s a general state of the wearing away of the most basic things that hold us together.”

The policies of growth and employment endorsed by Finnish politics, as described by Saari, are not in place for the wellbeing of the underprivileged. ”It’s great policy, if you happen to be highly educated or middle-class,” he says. “And physical labourers are still somewhat protected by the trends in Finnish politics.”

”But those who have fallen outside of the job market are simply not taken care of by the current system,” Saari goes on, referring to the high poverty rates among the elderly. “Your run-of-the-mill pensioner has not seen the kind of improvement they should, and could.”

Saari describes Finland as a socioeconomically charged class society. The gaps between different extremes have continued to broaden, he says.

“Those in the direst of straits have become veritable aliens in our midst,” Saari says.



Let's see how things will turn out.


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