The Nuotti coaching, organised by Kela, has increased the number of young men pursuing further studies. The coaching has been available without a medical diagnosis since 2019. The NAOF recommends that the low-threshold rehabilitation services for young people continue to be provided.
The NAOF has audited the identification, outreach and rehabilitation efforts targeting young people not in employment, education or training. In recent years, around nine per cent of people aged 15–29 have belonged to this group, so this is a fairly typical phase in young people’s lives. This becomes a problem if a young person becomes permanently excluded from society. However, there are no long-term statistics on the subject.
The topic is important for both central government finances and the national economy, because young people who have become permanently socially excluded cause the state to lose tax revenue while social expenditure increases. The loss in labour input contributes to a fall in GDP.
In 2023, one in five 20–24-year-olds had only completed basic education. Kela’s Nuotti coaching was launched in 2019 with the aim of helping young people at risk of becoming socially excluded. The effects of the coaching were assessed in the audit based on individual-level register data. According to the results, the training increased the likelihood of further studies by about four percentage points among men, but a similar change was not observed among women. Nor were any differences observed in employment or earnings between the participants and the control group.
The raising of the compulsory education age, which entered into force in 2021, has aimed to promote the completion of an upper secondary qualification. However, it is still too early to assess how well this has succeeded. According to the municipality survey carried out in the audit, the persons in charge for the supervision of compulsory education in municipalities considered that the municipalities’ new responsibility for the guidance and supervision had improved reaching out to young people at risk of social exclusion.
According to social welfare experts in the wellbeing services counties, the most difficult task is to reach young people at the highest risk of social exclusion. Home visits are often useless, because the door is not opened.