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4.9.2026 | The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has launched a pilot cooperation project with the hotel and event industry to increase the visibility of Finnish food culture in international meetings and events. At the same time, the Ministry encourages the entire event industry to give Finnish cuisine a more prominent role in the culinary experiences offered to international guests.

8.11.2021 | The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is launching a project to ensure the availability of skilled labour in all sectors throughout Finland. Sectoral working groups will seek short- and long-term solutions to improve the match between job vacancies and unemployed job seekers. They will also take steps to identify ways of guaranteeing that the objectives set for labour migration can be met.

27.1.2025 | 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.

5.3.2024 | On 4 March 2023, the EU Member States, European Parliament and Commission reached a provisional political agreement on a proposal for a regulation on packaging and packaging waste. Finland has taken an active part in the preparation of the regulation. The proposal that was agreed on can be evaluated in further detail only after its final content is available. The proposal is still pending formal adoption by the Member States and Parliament.

19.9.2023 | The EU Member States will celebrate the European Organic Day in various ways around the autumn equinox. The staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will enjoy an organic breakfast on 25 September, and will invite the staff of the European Commission Representation in Finland and representatives of the National Nutrition Council, ProLuomu and Finnish Organic Association to join them.

1.11.2022 | This autumn’s Occupational Barometer indicates that the increase in labour shortages has levelled off. At the national level, the Occupational Barometer nevertheless identified 56 shortage occupations out of 200 key occupations.

5.4.2022 | The number of occupations suffering from labour shortage has risen to the pre-COVID level and the occupations in the social welfare and healthcare sector are still at the top of the list. New shortage occupations are occupations in the restaurant and construction sectors. The number of surplus occupations has declined only slightly.

18.11.2022 | Minister of Education Li Andersson has awarded eight education providers 13 new authorisations to provide vocational education and training to complete a qualification as of 1 January 2023. The decision will expand the supply of education in English especially in the fields of cleaning and property services, accommodation, restaurant and catering services, tourism services, health and social services, and mechanical engineering and production technology.

22.6.2022 | The labour market roadmap project aims to improve the match between jobs and workers. The data model built in the project uses data in more diverse ways than before. In this way, the special characteristics of different sectors can be considered in more detail in order to create a more accurate picture of the types of open vacancies, labour reserves and occupational differences. 

4.6.2021 | On 4 June 2021, the Ministerial Working Group on Health and Social Services discussed the COVID-19 situation in Finland and the restrictions in place. They recommend that certain restrictions should be eased. The Government is due to decide on the matter urgently in the week starting 7 June.

22.10.2021 | With the easing of the coronavirus crisis and lifting of restrictions, the economies and employment in the regions are experiencing strong growth. Near-term expectations are positive across the country and demand for labour is high. However, the outlook in all regions is dampened by concerns over the availability of skilled labour.

11.3.2021 | On 11 March, the Government submitted to Parliament a proposal for an act on temporarily amending the Communicable Diseases Act. According to the proposal, a government decree issued under the temporary provisions of the Act could impose stricter restrictions on the opening hours, licensing hours and number of customer seats in businesses located in areas that are in tier 2 of epidemic prevention measures.

10.5.2021 | The coronavirus epidemic has weakened the economic and employment prospects in the regions for more than a year, but the outlook is now cautiously positive. The improved expectations are driven by the assumption of a swift rollout of COVID-19 vaccine, an improving epidemiological situation and the lifting of restrictions. 

11.3.2021 | The Government has amended the decree restricting the activities of food and beverage service businesses due to the COVID-19 epidemic. With the amendment, the restrictions that previously applied to regions in the community transmission phase of the epidemic would be introduced throughout the country. For areas in the baseline and acceleration phases, the additional restrictions will be in effect for the duration of the restaurant lockdown.

22.6.2021 | The ministerial working group proposes easing the restrictions on food and beverage service busi-nesses and indoor public events in areas where the epidemic is in the community transmission phase. On 22 June 2021, the Ministerial Working Group on Health and Social Services discussed the COVID-19 situation in Finland and the restrictions in place. Decisions on easing the restrictions on food and beverage service businesses would be made at a government session on 23 June.

26.2.2021 | Parliament adopted the government proposal of 4 February 2021 for temporarily amending the Communicable Diseases Act. The amendment will extend the validity of the provisions restricting the activities of food and beverage service businesses, namely restaurants, bars, cafes and nightclubs. The President of the Republic approved the amendment to the Communicable Diseases Act on 26 February 2021.

20.5.2021 | The Government has amended the decree restricting the activities of restaurants and other food and beverage service businesses due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The restrictions on opening and licensing hours will be tightened in the regions of Kanta-Häme and Central Ostrobothnia because of the worsened epidemiological situation in these regions. In the region of South Karelia, however, the situation has improved so the restrictions on opening and licensing hours will be eased.

29.6.2021 | A fourth application round for business cost support for March–May will be organised for companies. The conditions of aid would remain unchanged. In addition, medium-sized and large companies would receive separate compensation if their premises were closed by law or by order of an authority due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

1.3.2021 | The Government has submitted a proposal to Parliament on the temporary closure of restaurants and other food and beverage service businesses to customers for three weeks. The act would enter into force on 8 March 2021 and remain in force until 28 March 2021. During that time, meals could still be sold to customers for takeaway and delivery. The closure would apply to food and beverage service busines...

15.4.2021 | Restaurants and other food and beverage service businesses must remain closed to customers until Sunday 18 April 2021 in regions where it is necessary to stop the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The closure will end in North Savo on Friday 16 April 2021 because the epidemic situation there has improved.