I've come to understand that the Finnish job market is terrible right now, and trying to get a job is exceedingly difficult for natives and non-natives alike.

At the same time Finns are an aging population, which has presented an opportunity for immigrants to enter the country for work.

How come we're at the same time needing new workers, but also completely out of jobs? Aren't these two things contradictory, and should we expect things to rectify themselves soon?

by Glidy

11 comments

  1. The real reason companies want immigrant workers is that they don’t usually know their rights, and don’t know about unions. The goal is to reduce union membership to the point where the työehtosopimukset (don’t know what to call it in English) no longer apply, so they can start dictating wages and work conditions.

  4. What is the point with the image? Did you add it just for importance? 🙂

  6. It’s hard for everyone right now. You have to understand that there are many reasons high unemployment persists while there are many job vacancies. First of all it takes a while for those vacancies to be filled. Then there is algo geography: the people are not necessarily where the jobs are. And lastly, market fit: the skills needed don’t fit the skills in the marker.

    This isn’t about immigration as unemployment is quite high in general.

  7. The point of saying we need immigration for the workforce is not that there would be a lack of workers, but a lack of ultra-cheap labor. The point is to get folks from way worse conditions than Finland and have them settle for the absolute minimum pay, that a Finn would not accept, as it is not really a livable wage.

  8. There is no guarantee that the job exists after the person retires out of it

  9. It hasn’t quite hit yet, but it’s coming and it will be bad. Also, need for nurses is already here, and it will get much worse

  10. I think I know what can be at least a part of the issue.

    People tend to stay at one job here for way longer than I’m used to, therefore both hiring someone and accepting an offer are seen as a huge deal, which leads to a super-long hiring process.

    For example, I’d be glad to have one more developer in our team, but won’t happen anytime soon. For some reason, it’s pretty much impossible to hire someone in less than half a year. And during this time the existing team can somehow adapt to the workload that may actually require a slightly bigger team. Maybe, we won’t take some projects or postpone them.

    So here we are: some companies are under-stuffed, but refuse to post a job opening because the hiring process is too painful. At the same time, there are plenty of those who need a job and would actually take any offer if given some.

    Oh, and those “hidden positions” – it also contributes in slowing things down.

  11. We need specific skillsets way much more than others, because of the age structure. If youre not in a largely on demand field, you will be having a hard time. Even if you are, you are maybe not seing the demand just yet. Things will change in a decade or so.

    Some fields will never get a demand boom again, but some are in a constant state of one. Psychology is a good example. Not enough students, not enough professionals.

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