Tekijät

• Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA)

Asiasanat

COVID-19, European integration, bacterial and virus diseases, health services, identity, public finance, regional government, regional policy, social influence, welfare policy

Sisällön kuvaus

The study charted Finnish people's values and attitudes. The themes of the Autumn 2021 survey included the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, county elections, the organisation of public health and welfare services in the new wellbeing services counties, personal identity, and the future of urban and rural areas in Finland.

First, the respondents were presented with a variety of attitudinal statements concerning, among other topics, the Government's actions to combat COVID-19, politics, minorities, reliability of information, and freedom of speech.

Regarding COVID-19, the respondents were asked whether they thought the epidemic was threatening to their own health and livelihood as well as the health and livelihood of people close to them and Finns in general. Remote working was also surveyed, and the respondents were asked whether they would like to continue working remotely after the pandemic.

Various questions surveyed the respondents' interest in and knowledge of the new wellbeing services counties. The respondents were asked whether they would vote in the 2022 county elections that would decide the county councils responsible for the wellbeing service counties, as well as how interested or motivated they were in voting in elections in general. The respondents' views were also examined on which public services (e.g. basic education, social security benefits, public transportation) should belong to the wellbeing services counties in the future and whether the wellbeing services counties should have the power to collect taxes.

Opinions on Finland's current health care system were charted with questions on how well different aspects of health care, such as equality between citizens, waiting times for surgeries, and freedom to choose, were handled at present. The respondents were also asked which health care service provider they primarily used (public, private, or occupational health services) and how healthy they thought they were at present. The respondents' views on the future of urban and rural areas of Finland and opinions on how housing, business, and entrepreneurship should be promoted in sparsely populated areas were surveyed.

The respondents' personal identity was examined with questions on how important various aspects were as constructors of their identity (e.g. nationality, gender, age, occupation). Views on conflicts and contrasts between different groups in Finland (e.g. politicians and the people, employers and employees, men and women) were charted, and the respondents were asked whether they thought various population groups, such as people living in urban or rural areas, disabled people, or the elderly, were particularly privileged or discriminated against in Finland. Finally, opinions on political participation and social influence as well as Finland's EU membership and the euro as Finland's currency were examined.

Background variables included gender, age group, size of the respondent's municipality of residence, region of residence, employer type, employment status, type of employment contract, occupational group, employment sector, trade union membership, political party preference (which party the respondent would vote for), self-perceived social class, mother tongue, and annual income of the respondent's household.