Finland is not attracting foreign workers like other competitive countries, according to the Finnish media Yle News, who has interviewed multiple immigration researchers.
With an unemployment rate at over 8 percent, Finland has one of the highest rates among EU member states. This calls for more foreign workers to help out in various sectors, like the social and health sector.
Finland primarily targets international recruitment from its partner countries: India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Brazil, which together make up a quarter of all work-based permit applicants.
Many Filipinos are already working in the healthcare sector, but Markku Sippola, a senior lecturer at the University of Helsinki says Finland is falling behind other countries.
“It will soon become evident that Japan and China, which have never taken in many immigrants, are competing for these same Vietnamese and Filipino caregivers.”
Overall, the experts interviewed by Yle agreed that Finland lags behind many competitor countries in attracting work-based immigration.
“There is potential in the recent surge in work-based immigration. However, it’s hard to gauge how sustainable this development is regarding whether people will continue to come and how many will actually stay,” says Pasi Saukkonen, an immigration researcher at the Helsinki City Information Service to Yle News.
