Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora), nowadays called the State Youth Council, started to produce Youth Surveys in 1994. This survey series charts attitudes and expectations of Finnish young people aged 15 - 29. Each survey contains both current questions and recurring questions which are repeated over time, enabling the study of long-term attitude changes. The main themes include attitudes to education, working life, social security, spending, drug use, and young people's willingness to participate in order to influence decision-making.
The main themes of the Finnish Youth Survey Spring 1998 were education, changes in working life, cuts in the public sector, and social exclusion. Young people were also asked questions on their future plans, social security, and unemployment.
First, the respondents' background information was charted by asking them questions about their level of education. They were asked whether they studied at the moment, and whether they had completed a degree or qualification. Those who had were asked how they thought post-compulsory education helped young people advance in life. Their economic activity was also investigated. Those who were employed were asked about the duration and nature of their contract, and those who were unemployed were asked about the duration of unemployment and what they thought was the most important factor that had hindered or prevented them from finding a job.
Some questions probed the young people's notions of primary and lower secondary education. They were asked to grade primary and lower secondary education based on their own experiences and to tell how they thought compulsory education helped young people in different areas (e.g. common knowledge, skills needed in working life or in public participation). The most important skills provided by primary and lower secondary education were also charted.
Further questions canvassed working life and finding a job. The respondents were presented with a set of attitudinal statements on whether education significantly improved one's chances of getting a job, whether unemployment was exaggerated in Finland, and whether they were willing to accept a lower standard of living to improve employment situation. They also evaluated their own employment situation in the next five years. In addition, the young people assessed the probability of having to change occupation during their careers. Opinions on citizen wage (i.e. basic income unconditionally paid to all citizens) and the minimum monthly income needed to support oneself were queried, as well as on the most important thing in a job (for instance wage, nature of work, or relationships formed through work).
Views were probed on cuts in public expenditure. The respondents were asked how much should be cut for example from health care, unemployment benefits, farming subsidies, and support for families with children, in case the Finnish economy weakened.
Young people's notions of social exclusion were examined. Half of the respondents were asked to what extent social exclusion is caused by for example lack of education, lack of friends, bad way of life, and own laziness or indifference.
Finally, the respondents' satisfaction with their financial situation and life in general was studied.
Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, province of residence, municipality of residence, and economic activity.
Finnish Youth Survey Spring 1998 was conducted in connection with the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. The sample of the Labour Force Survey is drawn twice a year as a stratified random sample from the Statistics Finland population database, which is based on the central population register. The survey is a panel survey in which one person is interviewed five times. The interviews are conducted every three months apart from the fourth interview, which is conducted six months after the third interview. The first and last interviews are 15 months apart. The sample in each month consists approximately of 12,000 persons, which is, on average, every 300th person from the population. The sample consists of five rotation groups which have joined the survey in different months. The sample in the Finnish Youth Survey Spring 1998 consisted of 1,462 Finnish-speaking young people from several rotation groups. The sample was formed by including all young people aged between 15-29. After removing the overcoverage, the net sample size was brought down to 1,453 persons. Altogether 1,288 interviews were received. The number of non-respondents was 165 persons (i.e. 11.4%). The duration of each interview was approximately 12 minutes.