Study: Jobseekers with foreign names receive fewer employment opportunities

Discrimination in recruitment based on ethnic background has decreased in Finland, but jobseekers with a foreign background still have to submit more applications in order to receive an invitation for a job interview than equally qualified applicants with a Finnish background. Potential workforce remains untapped due to ethnic prejudices.

A study commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment explored how foreign background affects job search. In the study, 10,000 fictitious job applications were submitted to publicly advertised positions by equally qualified applicants of Finnish, English, Russian, Iraqi and Somali backgrounds. The positions were in the restaurant and catering, retail trade, cleaning, clerical and customer service sectors. The study compares the situation in 2016 and 2024.

According to the study, the Finnish labour market has become somewhat more receptive compared with 2016. However, applicants with Finnish background are still clearly favoured in the labour market.

While ethnic discrimination against people with Iraqi and Somali backgrounds has decreased since 2016, they still have to submit more than twice as many job applications as an equally qualified jobseeker with Finnish background in order to receive an interview invitation.  Discrimination against jobseekers with Russian background, on the other hand, grew slightly from 2016. The situation of jobseekers with English background was largely unchanged.

According to the study, falling discrimination in recruitment is potentially driven by evolving hiring policies of companies, growing acceptance of diversity in the labour market and increased demand for workforce. 

The study was conducted by Akhlaq Ahmad, Docent of Sociology.