Voluntary childless people say they often face societal stigma.Image: Titta Puurunen / Yle

Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said she wants to slash daycare fees to make working more attractive for parents of young children. Following up on the childbearing theme, Helsingin Sanomat's most-read article on Friday morning features a reader survey of people who are childfree by choice.

Respondents' reasons for voluntary childlessness included concerns about the climate and difficulties combining a family and career.

Venla Berg, a researcher at the Family Federation, cited a 2017 study that found that highly educated women were particularly concerned with bearing the load of work and family--something men did not express much concern about.

"Men said they would support the big change in a new mothers life by staying home for a few months while women were envisioning a three-year break in their careers," Berg explained.

The Finnish Tax Administration is urging income earners to update their withholding tax information, according to business paper Kauppalehti.

The tax office said as many as one-in-four workers were exceeding their annual pay estimates, which can lead to the withhold percentage suddenly shooting up at the end of the year. Tax officials said they were planning to send text messages to some 6,000 individuals whose earnings were greatly exceeding reported income thresholds.

An internal review by the Foreign Ministry found much room for improvement in several African development aid projects, reports newsstand tabloid Ilta-Sanomat which had requested access to the sealed report.

The review centred on projects in the countries of Mozambique, Kenya and Ethiopia and found that the ministry did not adequately monitor and follow-up with aid recipients. Some foreign aid programmes not only lacked clear goals, but also concrete steps for achieving targets, according to the report.

Many university students in Finland are returning to online classes this autumn, but hotel chain Scandic is nonetheless launching a student accommodation package, reports business magazine Talouselm in a story that is piquing interest among its readership.

The chain is offering student accommodation packages--starting with 30 nights--at some of its hotels in Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Kuopio, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Jyvskyl, Vaasa and Lappeenranta, according to the magazine.

Hotels have been struggling to maintain occupancy. At the beginning of the typical tourism season in May, Finnish air passenger traffic plummeted by 98 percent, year-on-year.

Exacerbating the problem is the fact that right before the coronavirus crisis hit, Finland's hospitality sector was making large-scale investments in new hotels, leading to a concern that supply may soon surpass demand.

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Friday's papers: Childless by choice, taxes and foreign aid impact - YLE News