A part of the immigrants living in Finland are now finding jobs just as easily as the Finnish population.

   

On the other hand, when times are tough, foreigners wind up unemployed easier than Finns. They are still seen as reserve labour that must first adjust when companies cut costs.

   

Statistics Finland researcher Pekka Myrskylä has analysed the employment situation of all immigrants who arrived in Finland between the years 1989 and 2001. During that time period, 124,000 foreigners moved to Finland, and 106,000 stayed.

   

Myrskylä was surprised by the fact that in many professions, immigrants found work almost just as easily as Finns. He points out that contrary to the common complaint of Finns, immigrants do not simply sit around and live off social security.

   

"We have many regions where the employment rate of Finns is lower than that of immigrants, for example Lapland and Kainuu", Myrskylä remarks.

   

However, 80 percent of immigrants in Finland live south of the Turku-Tampere axis.

The current reasonably good employment rate

has been explained by the fact that immigrants rarely enjoy the same unemployment benefits as Finns. Faced with weak social security, immigrants are more willing to accept any paying job.

   

They are also often used to consuming sparingly, and save money to send back home to relatives.

   

Few immigrants start out in jobs that fully match their education or experience. Many employment contracts of immigrants are also fixed-term. Naturally, not all immigrants need to start from the bottom in Finland. There are numerous IT professionals and researchers from other countries living in Finland.

   

Most immigrants are young adults who choose to live in those parts of the country that provide the best employment prospects, such as the Helsinki region, Tampere, Turku, and Oulu.

Immigrants from Sweden, other EU member states,

and Estonia have the least trouble finding work in Finland. Estonians in particular compete on an equal standing with Finns for many jobs. Russians and Africans face the weakest employment situation.

   

It seems that a dual labour market is forming in Finland. Immigrants will perform those tasks that Finns are unwilling to do, such as cleaning.

   

Foreigners currently account for over two percent of the Finnish population. Between 1989 and 2001, Finland received 25,000 Russians, 22,000 Asians, 12,000 Africans, 12,000 Estonians, and 19,000 people from Sweden and other EU countries.