Authors

• Foundation for Municipal Development

Keywords

career development, conditions of employment, employers, local government, local government services, municipalities, private sector, public sector, public services, working conditions

Abstract

The survey studied the public opinion on Finnish municipalities. Views on municipalities as employers were charted by asking the respondents to evaluate the wage level, job variety, holiday entitlement, pension benefits, career opportunities, job security and control, incentives, efficiency, job satisfaction, and general working conditions of municipal employees. Some questions covered management and gender equality in municipalities. The respondents compared municipalities and private sector employers in terms of wages, working conditions, job security, management, etc. Opinions were also probed on whether municipalities should increase their attractiveness as employers by increasing task variety, flexibility of working hours, employees' control over their job, and employees' possibilities to have a say in decisions, etc.

The respondents were also asked whether they would accept a job offered by a municipality, state, private industry or a private services provider. The survey carried a set of attitudinal questions relating to local government democracy, municipal administration, municipal services, municipal employees, their workload, municipal taxation, etc.

The same questions were presented in another survey targeting young Finns aged 15-25 (FSD2089).

Background variables included whether the respondent or a close relative was or had been a municipal employee, the respondent's gender, age, main activity, education, province and region of residence, household annual gross income, household composition, which political party the respondent would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held at that time, and which party (s)he had voted for in the 2000 municipal elections.