Helsinki (28.08.2003 - Juhani Artto) June, July and August are the months in which working Finnish people spend most of their annual leave. Both in the late 1980s and the late 1990s 71 per cent of annual leave was spent during the three Summer months.
July is by far the most popular holiday month. Its share expanded from 40 per cent to 44 per cent in 1987-2000. June became less popular, falling from 18 per cent to 8 per cent over this period. At the same time August won favour as a holiday month. Its share increased from 13 per cent to 19 per cent.
The main reason for the changes in the June and August proportions has been the increasing internationalisation of business and other spheres of life. Finnish organisations and individuals have increasingly felt pressure to follow the holiday timing of Western European countries.
Interestingly, there is a slight gender difference in the Finnish holiday timing. Women clearly spend a larger proportion of their annual leaves in February and March than men. This is explained by the "skiing holidays" when schools are out for one week in the spring.
Women also take a larger proportion of their annual leaves than men during the weeks leading up to Christmas, in order to make time for Christmas preparations.
Regular employees in most industries have six weeks of annual leave: roughly five weeks in the summer months and one week at other times of the year. Increasing short-period employment has unsettled this pattern of late, even though most Finns would like to retain it as June, July and August are the warmest and therefore the best loved months in an otherwise cold country.
As a large part of the working population is on holiday in July, many workplaces shut down completely or almost totally for several weeks at this time. This clearly interrupts Finland’s emerging 24/7 society. Instead, working people enjoy the fruits of their labours during the long months before the holiday.
The most popular way of spending summer holidays is to stay for several week at a summer cottage: either one’s own or that of relatives or friends. With a total population of only 5.2 million, Finland has about 450,000 second or summer homes, and this number continues to rise by several thousands annually.
Source: Työajan muutokset [changes in working time], Laura Hulkko (ed.), Statistics Finland 2003 (in Finnish)