Finland’s government is losing support among entrepreneurs, but more than half of those polled still expressed satisfaction with the government and its key ministers.
A fresh survey by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises (Suomen Yrittäjät) suggests that 60 percent of entrepreneurs are satisfied with the current right-wing government composition, which 29 percent are dissatisfied.
The poll points to displeasure with the Finance Ministry's announcement in late May that Finland's general rate of value-added tax (VAT) will rise from 24 to 25.5 percent at the beginning of September. Besides added costs, some companies say that the fact that the VAT rate includes a decimal point will require new programmes and even new equipment.
Parliament approved the rate hike on Friday by a vote of 97-71, with 31 MPs absent.
The highest level of satisfaction was found in industrial sectors and entrepreneurs with more than 10 employees.
Male entrepreneurs are clearly more supportive with the government than female entrepreneurs. Some 70 percent of men and 45 percent of women expressed satisfaction with the cabinet led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of the National Coalition Party, which has traditionally been seen as pro-business.
Just over 1,000 representatives of micro, small and medium-sized companies responded to the poll in early to mid-June. Forty-five percent of the respondents were self-employed.
Growing discontent with government actions
The survey points to growing discontent with the government programme. In June, 55 percent of the respondents were satisfied, down from 60 percent during the previous poll in April. Satisfaction has now dipped to the lowest level since Orpo’s administration took office just over a year ago on 20 June 2023.
Respondents were asked separately for their views on the cabinet’s recent actions as opposed to its general agenda.
On this question, too, support fell by five percentage points from April, down to 54 percent in June. The proportion of those expressing dissatisfaction to 37 percent, its highest level during this government term.
Women clearly less satisfied with government
"The results show entrepreneurs' criticism of the hasty increase in VAT and the government's weakness in creating growth. On the other hand, there is support for the government at least trying to mend public finances, even though there are no visible results to be seen so far," said Mikael Pentikäinen, CEO of Suomen Yrittäjät in a statement on Saturday.
"It is striking that satisfaction is the lowest among sole proprietors and small employers. The latter in particular are awaiting labour-market reforms to boost employment, but they have not happened yet and some of the [cabinet’s] promises may turn out to be empty," added Pentikäinen, former editor-in-chief of the daily Helsingin Sanomat.
Pentikäinen also pointed out that the survey results show a gender split in political views, with women clearly less satisfied with the government than men.
Support for main governing parties unchanged
The survey also shows that businesspeople are losing confidence in Orpo and Finance Minister Riikka Purra, chair of the nationalist Finns Party. About 55 percent still expressed satisfied with Orpo, while support for Purra slipped to 49 percent. Younger entrepreneurs were more displeased with the cabinet’s two main leaders.
However, there has been no corresponding rise in satisfaction with the opposition parties, who only garnered 14 percent support on average – although that rose to 20 percent among female entrepreneurs, compared with just 11 percent among men.
There was little change in general party support among entrepreneurs. Support for Orpo’s NCP (43 percent) and Purra’s Finns Party (13 percent) remained nearly the same as in April. The Centre and SDP garnered seven-percent support each from entrepreneurs, with the Greens just behind at six percent.
The survey was conducted by Verian, which estimates the margin of error at +/- 3.1 percentage points.
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