Because of the lack of Finns due to the aging population and low birthing rate, the labor market is in big need of manpower in various fields. The Finnish government has set a goal to fill this gap with foreigners. We who have tried or who speak Finnish, know that the language can and is hard to learn and speak. Therefore because of the big need for manpower most working environments will face language change most likely in the future. So, if we want Finland to drive further and stronger in the future, we need to accept speaking English in our everyday lives. In the following chapters, we will try to justify to the reader why the foreign workforce is needed and some parameters to understand better why you and your co-worker will speak English in the future job environment.  

The Big Generation and the birth rate 

As said in the introduction Finnish nation is producing fewer and fewer babies yearly and the big generation is hitting their retirement age, therefore big manpower is taken away. It also regulates that big manpower is needed to take care of them.  

The big generation refers to the people who were born in the years of 1945-1950. At that point, around 500 babies were being born daily in Finland at the best. That would have indicated that around 110 000 babies were born at the best during the time.  While now in 2022 we had around 45 000 babies born.  

Now the big generation is hitting their golden age of retirement. Because the birth rate has been rather low in the past 20 years there is not enough manpower to take care of the aging population. Only in 2022 people 71 500 retire due to age or other factors. The times have changed from the times the big generation was working. Nowadays the situations are way better for the people and youth, they have access to study and learn a high-skill job while being supported by the government. Therefore, most people nowadays enter the working life only at their twenties. While the big generation started working commonly earliest from fifteen years old.  

High Skilled People 

The Finnish education system is well known in the world and yearly there is 159 500 students graduating universities from 15 different universities in Finland.  

The working market has work power for high-position jobs, that need years of studying. These highly educated people may face trouble finding jobs since they have so many of them fighting for them in Finland. That led to the effect that many seek job opportunities outside of Finland.  

On the educational side, the government is trying to triple the current amount of international students, studying in Finland. To support foreign students to come and study in Finland, there has been more heavy marketing to foreign countries promoting the Finnish university programs. After 2022 April international students have been able to get their study permits easily and for a longer period.  

Current situation of Labor Market 

To understand what kind of manpower Finland needs, one can overlook where is the shortage and what is overloading. 

According to the EU studies the most employed persons in Finland work in the service sector. In the service sector, the largest number of employers are in commerce, transport, hotel, and catering services, education, health, and social services. There they already work a lot due to shortage and these sectors are predicted to increase in the future. The biggest need for professions at Finnish level is in:  

• Healthcare assistants 
• Qualified nurses and public healthcare nurses 
• Social work specialists 
• Specialist medical practitioners 
• General practitioners 
• Early childhood education professionals (daycare teachers) 
• Audiologists and speech therapists 
• Dentists 
• Home-based personal care workers 
• Psychologists 
• Restaurant and catering staff 
• Office and workplace cleaners 
• Specialist teachers 
• Senior nurses and ward nurses 
• Foremen in the construction sector 

Where we see the shortage one should also seek to see where was the overload on. In 2021 the unemployed rate was 7,7 % leaving it around 210 000 people unemployed. Unemployment can be cause from various different factors. But most of the unemployment were from the fields of industrial, technical, art, administrative and office work. The particular professions were oversupplied:  

• General secretaries 
• Travel agency clerks 
• Tailors, dressmakers, furriers and hatters 
• Journalists 
• Administrative and executive secretaries 
• Printers 
• Pre-press technicians 
• Graphic and multimedia designers 
• Information and communications technology installers, servicers 
• Finishing processors and bindery workers 
• Other specialists in the art and cultural industries 
• Social and cultural researchers 
• Library clerks 
• Advertising and marketing professionals 
• Visual artists 

This gives a good overlook of the market and highlights on the need of work power and the skill set. 

What can be done? 

Different associations, partners, and forces need to enable the change. Whether it is at the government level or company or cultural or witch ever level, all of us can be part of the solution.  

On the individual side, if you are a Finnish native, you can start by setting your future and family in Finland. Better if those could be done at a younger age already, not waiting to reach the end of the twenties. The earlier people can access the working life and start families the more use they are for the society.  Another way for individuals to welcome the change that Finland will go over by the year 2030 having more foreign people and cultures is respecting others’ cultures and being open to communicating and working in English. Engaging the change and having a positive attitude toward it, doesn’t mean that we should forget the Finnish ways and traditions. 

At the government level, many steps are made to make the change of having more foreigners entering the market. As earlier mentioned, it is part of the strategy in Finland to increase the amount, of foreigners living and working in Finland. The government tries to attract foreigners by promoting its beauty and benefits. Such as the beautiful and peaceful nature as well as the sauna culture and calmness. They have made Finland a pretty brand and country that they want people abroad to be attracted by. Also, the government supports foreign entrepreneurs to start their small businesses by offering lots of help and support systems. Bigger companies get money-wise compromised when supporting the international work environment and providing jobs for foreigners. 

Summary 

Finland is facing demographic challenges due to an aging population and declining birth rates. The labor market is experiencing a shortage of manpower. Leading the Finnish government to fix it by encouraging foreign people to move to Finland to work and live here. English language adoption in the workplace is needed due to the high rate of foreigners entering the market. Therefore, we need to be more open in our attitude towards speaking English in workplaces and schools as we as a nation need the people outside to come and live in Finland to ensure the society’s functionality.  

Sources: 

Emilie Cochaud-Kaminski. 2022. Why Finland plans to double its foreign workforce. 

Statistic Finland. 2022. Birth rate in Finland is not sufficiently high for the age structure. 

EURES. 2023. Labour market information: Finland.  

Yle. 2023. Helsinki faces Finland’s worst-ever labour shortage. 

Pekka Myrskylä. 2022. Bye bye suuret ikäluokat. 

Eläketurvakeskus. 2023. Eläkkeellesiirtymisikä työeläkejärjestelmässä – Eläkkeellesiirtymisikä notkahti vahvan nousun jälkeen. 

Statistics Finland. 2022. Number of university students grew in 2021.