HS Home 16.9.2003 - Sociologist: Immigration will not solve Finland's future labour shortage

By Hannele Tulonen

It is not realistic to assume that the labour shortage that is threatening Finland could be corrected through immigration. With all other Western European nations also in need of labour, Finland will most likely not be attractive enough in the competition.

These are the beliefs of University of Helsinki Professor of Sociology Tapani Valkonen, who discussed the new challenges of population policy at a seminar organised by the Family Federation of Finland in Helsinki on Friday.

"Finland is a nice country, if you do not take into account the country's location, weather, and people", Valkonen repeated the description of Neil Hardwick, an English-born TV- and theatre director who has lived in Finland for many years.

The strange language is also a barrier for many potential immigrants.

Valkonen believes that Finland's own unemployed

population will be the most important labour reserve in the near future. Providing employment to these people will be crucial when attempting to solve the problems created by the retirement of the baby-boom generation.

However, the demands of the labour market are such that large numbers of the unemployed have no chance of fitting in and finding a job.

The group of the long-term unemployed is not only comprised of older people who were dismissed during the last recession. Joblessness is also a common phenomenon among the younger generations, and two in three unemployed people in Finland are under fifty years of age.

Education is critically important, but one in five boys and ten percent of girls from each age group do not continue their education past the compulsory nine years.

Pensioners also form a valuable labour reserve.

By the year 2015, the number of people aged 60-74 will grow by 40 percent, or by 400,000 people in Finland.

Senior citizens are in better health and more highly educated than in the past. Valkonen believes that a part of them could be employed with a suitable wage and other terms of employment. Not all senior citizens would like to return to full-time work.

"In order to finance a round-the-world trip or to help their grandchildren with study expenses, many could be willing to work part-time or for a part of the year in a job that would correspond to their abilities."

In other words, a job market for senior citizens would be worth establishing.

Child-friendly policies are necessary,

but Valkonen is not convinced that such policies will increase the birth rate. Finland is in a hurry if it intends to combat the labour shortage with the help of babies.

When people decide to have children, the process is sensitive and complex, and the state has little power to influence it.

"We can only guess at whether unemployed women would begin having babies if they were promised triple child allowances", the Professor muses.

All types of measures are worth considering. Even universities should investigate how it would be easier to combine studying and raising a family. Perhaps by providing day-care close to campuses? This could encourage people to have their first child at a younger age.

Researcher Heikki Hiilamo believes that various allowances can have an effect on the birth rate. "People have children if there is a benefit."

Also speaking at the seminar, Antti Mykkänen,

who heads the Northern Savo region, cautioned against focusing too much on Europe in labour issues. For example, China and India could provide highly skilled additions to the Finnish labour force. Universities are already central recruiting channels for foreign labour, Mykkänen said.

"Finland needs an active immigration policy strategy, but only Savo is ready for that at this moment", Mykkänen commented. According to Mykkänen, adoption should be increased considerably.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.9.2003