Finnish companies which are Esperi Care, which specialises in care for the elderly, Opteam, a personnel services and recruiting firm, and Amiedu, a vocational adult education company, have begun hiring nurses from the Philippines in an effort to fill a labour shortage in the health care branch.
They plan to hire about 100 Filipinos within the next two years. A pilot group of 20 nurses will arrive next spring. After a trial period, the nurses are to be offered contracts for at least two years — on the same terms as Finnish nurses.
Philippine nurses are much in demand internationally, as they tend to be well-educated and English-speaking.
By the year 2017, 29 percent of nurses currently employed by municipalities are to retire, a total of some 69,000 nurses. Meanwhile the need for caregivers is growing as Finland’s population ages. Between now and 2017, more than 725,000 people will retire in Finland.
