The growth in labour productivity has remained quite brisk in Finland compared with many European countries. Productivity is a crucial factor supporting the country's growth in the standard of living and wellbeing.

In recent years the growth in labour productivity in Finland has been based almost entirely on technological development. It has also been said that the growth in productivity is based on structures too one-sided: the production of telecommunications equipment, information technology services and telecommunications.

"The growth in productivity in Finland has not, however, been weighted towards the ICT sectors any more than in other EU countries," emphasizes Simo Pinomaa, an economist at the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK). "It appears rather that Finland has developed in a quite balanced way."

There are two reasons for this view. Firstly, overall productivity, which depicts technological development, has increased widely in all corporate activity. About 80 per cent of the growth in total productivity between 1995 and 2004 has been generated in sectors other than ICT.

Secondly, the most recent surveys say that Finland is close to the top of the international league table in productivity in many of the main service areas. Productivity has also developed quickly in construction activities.

"It has been known for a long time that several sectors of Finnish industry are at the top internationally in terms of productivity," says Pinomaa.

Further growth

In October EK published a report entitled Hyvinvointi versoo tuottavuudesta (Wellbeing sprouts up from productivity). One of the issues the report considers is how productivity can be improved in the future.

"Companies' operating environment affects the growth potential for productivity in many ways," Pinomaa says. "Here political decision-makers and the Government hold vital responsibility."

The most important measures are associated with R&D investment, support for a broad-based innovation policy and improving the operation of the public sector.

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Technological development has spread many to many sectors in Finland.