Trade Union JHL

Joint wage recommendations for schoolchildren’s work practice programme in municipal and welfare sectors

The municipal and welfare sector’s employer organisations and trade unions recommend that municipalities and wellbeing services counties hire schoolchildren for summer work practice this year, too. This summer, the recommended wage for schoolchildren for a two-week work practice is 390 euros.

Local Government and County Employers KT and the main contracting organisations of the employee party (JUKO, JAU and Sote) have issued a joint recommendation on schoolchildren’s summer work practice programme. The organisations recommend that the municipal and welfare sector’s employers would give schoolchildren a possibility of getting acquainted with the sector’s work duties and possibilities, also in summer 2023. They also issue joint wage recommendations for the work practice.

The municipal and welfare sector’s employers offer many kinds of meaningful jobs to young people. A good experience of summer work practice may improve the sector’s employer image and inspire schoolchildren to apply to studies with the help of which they may find employment in the municipal and welfare sector. Every fifth employee is employed by the municipal and welfare sector.

The municipal and welfare sector’s employers are municipalities, joint municipal authorities, wellbeing services counties and joint county authorities for wellbeing services. The organisations’ joint recommendation concerns the summer work practice programmes for schoolchildren in 2023–2025.

KT and the organisations recommend that the total wage for the two-week summer work practice would be as follows:

  • 390 euros in 2023
  • 400 euros in 2024
  • 410 euros in 2025

The wage includes holiday compensation. In other respects, the municipal or welfare sector’s collective agreement (usually KVTES and HYVTES) is complied with in the employment relationships. The wage is also subject to statutory social security payments, the amount of which depends on the intern’s age. The wage is paid at the latest on the following pay day after the employment relationship has ended.

Work practice programme not a replacement for summer job

“Tutustu työelämään ja tienaa” (get acquainted with working life and make some money) is a programme for schoolchildren that has been in place in municipalities since 1992. The programme is meant for comprehensive school pupils,  secondary school students, and for young people participating in TUVA training (previously tenth grade and VALMA training). Its goal is to give schoolchildren personal experiences on working life and its ground rules, work duties and how workplaces operate.

The organisations all agree that a summer work practice programme is not a replacement for a regular summer job. In accordance with the programme, one employer provides one young person with a work practice period that complies with this recommendation. Thanks to this, as many young people as possible can get work experience. One can also agree on a longer employment relationship with the young person after the work practice programme is over. In such a case, it is no longer a question of an employment relationship compliant with the “Tutustu työelämään ja tienaa” model.

According to the parties, the employment relationships that are based on the municipal and welfare sector’s work practice programme “Tutustu työelämään ja tienaa” are of the sort that realising the programme is not in conflict with the stipulations of the Employment Contracts Act, or with valid collective agreements.

KT and the organisations recommend that the employers, in good time before realising the work practice programme, take into account the programme’s special character in personnel or training plans or in other kind of cooperation with personnel representatives and occupational safety and health representatives.

Recommendation signed by

Public Sector Union JAU
Negotiation Organisation for Public Sector Professionals JUKO
Health and social services sector’s negotiation organisation Sote
Local Government and County Employers KT