And why should Orpo’s government take up the metropolitan area program?
Metropolitan areas must be successful because they act as engines of the national economy and benefit the entire country’s economy and employment. Particularly favorable opportunities for growth and increased productivity are in metropolitan areas with a population of over one million inhabitants, writes Markku Lahtinen, director of advocacy at the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, in his blog.
Half of Finland’s R&D investments are made in Uusimaa. It is home to 28 percent of Finland’s population, and 56 percent of the country’s foreign-language speakers. The region produces 37 percent of Finland’s gross domestic product and hosts 33 percent of the country’s jobs. In addition, the Uusimaa region is Finland’s most international business cluster.
The population is growing at a record pace, especially in the large cities of the capital region. In other parts of Finland, population growth is not in sight for the coming decades. According to Statistics Finland’s population forecast, the total population of Finland will start to decline in ten years. The trend can be reversed by making Finland more attractive and vibrant for professionals, families, and business investments.
In terms of productivity, the Helsinki capital region leads the country: the value-added per resident is more than one and a half times that of the rest of the country. The situation in the Helsinki region looks quite favorable, but it raises an important question. Are the conditions and competitiveness of the metropolitan area at such a good level that they are sufficient to ensure that Finland can compete internationally? And is the value-added it produces for the national economy and the financing of the welfare state also possible in the future?
Metropolitan areas need to succeed because they act as engines of the national economy, benefiting the entire country’s economy and employment. Metropolitan areas with a population exceeding one million have particularly favorable opportunities for growth and productivity increases. For example, the metropolitan areas of the United States produce a whopping 84 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. This may be an important factor in the success of the world’s most innovative economy.
The Chamber of Commerce’s offer for a joint growth program for the metropolitan area is still valid.
For comparison, Finland only has one metropolitan area, Uusimaa, with 1.5 million residents and 820,000 jobs. The next most vibrant growth center is the Tampere region, with 350,000 residents and 200,000 jobs. The Turku region is slightly behind Tampere with 280,000 residents and 150,000 jobs.
What kind of emphasis have the most recent governments placed on Finland’s only metropolitan area? The Marin administration’s program placed quite a strong emphasis on strengthening the ability of the metropolitan area to compete with other European metropolises for skilled labor and businesses. Unfortunately, the entries did not translate into actions, as many things were done just the opposite. Examples include transferring over 100 million euros of structural fund resources away from Uusimaa and increasing the number of starting places in higher education in provinces outside of Uusimaa, even though it is significantly harder to get into the region’s higher education institutions compared to other areas. The number of starting places in Uusimaa’s higher education institutions has been lower than the national average for some time.
The Orpo administration’s program does not mention metropolitan policy at all, but the government aims to strengthen urban policy, which is based on a fair partnership between the state and the cities. The government emphasizes strategic cooperation with the largest urban areas. From the perspective of the Helsinki region, the entries are vague, but in the best case, the cities and the state can find a common tune that strengthens the growth and success of the metropolitan area’s businesses.
The Helsinki region Chamber of Commerce unsuccessfully proposed the following entry to the Orpo administration’s program: A program to accelerate growth will be created for the metropolitan area, strengthening the success of the whole of Finland. The main themes of the program are land use, housing, transport, the foreign-language population and work-based immigration, creating new jobs, education and skills, and R&D investments.
The business community wants to ensure that the return on investment and value-added per capita made by the state and the EU in Uusimaa are at least one and a half times compared to the rest of the country. This is also hoped to be a goal of the government. The Chamber of Commerce’s offer for a joint growth program for the metropolitan area is still valid.
This article was translated by AI and revised by a person. The original Finnish Article can be read here
