The Finnish electorate has prioritized an improvement in employment as the government's main aim in 2010, according to a new survey.

The pollster Taloustutkimus conducted a study, commissioned by YLE, which disclosed that 21 per cent of the Nordic country's population consider the ruling administration's most important task this year to better labor market conditions.

In addition, the survey discovered that 60 per cent of respondents believed that the National Coalition Party had so far done a poor job of dealing with problems related to employment.

Juho Rahkonen, chief of research at Taloustutkimus, explained that labor market concerns had overtaken traditional Finnish worries over public social services.

He told YLE: "It is still there in the background. In fact, this concern over employment may be related to worries about the welfare state and the continuation of what is seen as a good Finnish way of life."

Finland's unemployment rate rose for a second consecutive month in November to 8.5 per cent, according to figures released by Helsinki-based Statistics Finland.