In Finland municipal employees continue to have great faith in job sustainability. According to a new book published by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, only three per cent of municipal employees agonise about losing their jobs. The book summarizes the results of a number of large-scale studies made in the 2000s on the well-being of municipal employees at work.

As a general trend there has been a reduction in stress levels, although almost a third (29 per cent) experience workloads which exceed their endurance limits. The situation is worst among municipal social workers; almost half of them (45 per cent) claim to have too much work.

"When persisting for a longer period, work stress may weaken well-being at work and shorten working careers by decreasing motivation and increasing the risk of falling ill", warns Jussi Vahtera, research professor at the Institute.

The study aslo indicate that the quality of management has developed positively, and this may be one of the reasons why employees over 55 years of age do not consider retirement to the same extent as earlier in the 2000s.

The annual sick leave has also taken a positive turn in Finland. From 2000 it grew rapidly, reaching a peak in 2008 when the average number of sick leave days was 19 per employee. Since then it has come down to 18 where it has stayed in 2009, 2010 and 2011.