An increasing number of immigrants find employment in Finland in the restaurant industry. Restaurants offer immigrants positions as cleaners, dishwashers, waiters or cooks, and many immigrants eventually open a restaurant of their own.

   

In central Helsinki, ethnic restaurants can now be found on nearly every block: pizzas, kebabs, Chinese or Thai and Indian or Nepalese food. Researcher Annika Forsander from the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism at the University of Helsinki estimates that immigrants own one in ten of the restaurants in the Helsinki metropolitan region.

   

Aarne Mäkinen from the Product Control Centre for Social Welfare and Health observes that a rapid change has occurred over the past ten years. "In the early 1990s one could recite by heart the names of places owned by immigrants, but now it would be completely impossible."

Forsander says

that of those immigrants who have found employment in Finland, fifteen percent work in the restaurant industry. In addition, a large number of immigrants work in other service sectors, for example as cleaners and bus drivers.

   

"These positions do not interest the majority of the population, as the employment terms are short and uncertain, and wages are often low", Forsander explains. The researcher recently finished her doctoral dissertation on the integration of immigrants in the Finnish labour market.

   

The number of immigrants in the restaurant business began to grow rapidly in the early 1990s, after the recession had left property prices quite low. At the same time, foreigners were granted the right to own corporations in Finland, and it became easier to obtain a liquor licence.

Turkish immigrants

have been particularly active in the Finnish restaurant industry. Forsander reveals that up to one in four Turkish immigrants own restaurants in Finland. They are also prone to employing other Turks and other immigrants.

   

"Few Turkish immigrants have even worked in the restaurant business in their former homeland. However, they clearly value entrepreneurship", Forsander explains.

   

According to the statistics, immigrants often operate small restaurants with inexpensive food and low margins. Earnings are meagre, but work is still seen as a better alternative than being on the dole. Forsander says that some immigrants are forced to open a restaurant as no other work is available.

   

The media has connected ethnic restaurants and the use of illicit labour from time to time. According to Forsander, this criticism is unfounded: there are some problems, but the majority of immigrants do not bend the rules.

Although the majority of immigrants

find their first job in Finland in the cleaning or restaurant industries, according to Forsander there is no cause for concern at the moment. "You need to start somewhere. But it will be alarming if the second generation of immigrants only receives the same low-paying jobs as their parents."

   

Forsander also points out that up to forty percent of the current Finnish labour force will retire within the next ten years. This means that an increasing number of immigrants will be required in the future labour market.