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5.6.2025 | On 5 June 2025, the Government issued a decree on sectors with labour shortages in which the holders of residence permits for employed persons may seek work more flexibly. At the same time, the Government wants to facilitate the supply of labour in sectors suffering from labour shortages.

16.1.2023 | The report contains the results of the Labour Market Roadmap project by occupation and region and proposes solutions to improve the availability of labour. According to the report, that divides occupations into those suffering from labour shortage, mismatch or surplus, the increase in labour market mismatch is largely explained by the growing number of atypical employment relationships. 

29.11.2023 | This autumn, the revised Labour Force Barometer focuses on the future prospects of the technology industry and the social welfare, health and wellbeing sectors. The greatest shortage of labour is in the health and social services sector, where skilled workers are needed for the care of older people, in particular. The outlook for the technology sector is expected to improve after next summer.

22.5.2025 | The reform will strengthen the link between work and work-based residence permits and make the monitoring of permits more systematic. The Government will also issue a decree on labour shortage sectors in June 2025. The holders of a residence permit for an employed person may look for new work in these sectors more flexibly than before.

8.2.2023 | The lack of skilled labour is slowing Finland’s economic growth. Increasing cooperation between public and private sector employment agencies could alleviate the problem of labour shortages. An event on Wednesday 8 February will present different ways to improve the match between jobs and jobseekers. About 400 public and private sector employment agents will attend the event. 

21.5.2025 | The employment rate of registered nurses and practical nurses is high, with more than 90 per cent of graduates finding work in the social welfare and health care sector. Unemployed nurses cannot be relied on to respond to the future labour shortage in the sector. People who have sought employment in other sectors represent the most significant resource of unutilised workforce. Some relief can also be provided by pensioners for whom working is increasingly common.

15.7.2024 | The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) will meet in Brussels on 16 July 2024. The topics on the agenda include labour shortages and skills shortages in the EU, and promotion of the employment and social inclusion of persons with disabilities. Minister of Employment Arto Satonen will represent Finland at the meeting in Brussels.

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.

16.11.2023 | The situation in Finland’s labour market is looking bleak. Many employees will be laid off, with the number of layoffs expected to rise to close to the highs experienced during the financial crisis of 2009. In particular, the economic trend in manufacturing and construction will be unfavourable and be reflected in the demand for services.

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.

12.12.2022 | The labour market roadmap project provides important information about the problems related to the availability of labour. During the project, employers and employees met in eight sectoral groups to consider proposals for improving the situation. According to them, the transfer of labour from surplus occupations to shortage occupations and from one region to another should be speedier and the services for people moving to work in Finland could be improved. 

9.3.2026 | EU ministers will convene for a meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in Brussels on 9 March. Minister of Social Affairs and Health Wille Rydman will represent Finland at the meeting.

6.6.2025 | In its meeting on 6 June 2025, the Research and Innovation Council chaired by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo adopted a plan for monitoring and assessing the use and effectiveness of central government research and development funding. The new monitoring and assessment plan covers both the additional funding under the Act on Research and Development Funding and state R&D funding as a whole. The assessm...

17.10.2024 | The Government is seeking to strengthen the link between work and work-based residence permits, and to make permit supervision after the entry into Finland more systematic. The proposal takes the long recruitment times of specialists into consideration. At the same time, the proposal would offer foreigners more opportunities to find new work in the national labour shortage sectors. 

9.11.2022 | Even though the outlook for the labour market is in many respects gloomier than before, the number of employed persons will continue to grow slightly, according to the Labour Market Forecast extending to 2024. The number of unemployed jobseekers in employment services (TE services) will see a moderate increase as well.

13.4.2023 | Four Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) launched an experiment on more flexible labour market tests in autumn 2021. The aim was to increase labour mobility between regions and ease permit processes related to immigration of foreign workforce by introducing common policies. The experiment did not have a significant effect on work-based immigration, but it increased cooperation between the regions.

11.5.2023 | The lacklustre state of the economy will be reflected in the labour market over the next few months. As recently as in early 2023, the labour market showed a positive trend and employment grew due to part-time work. During the latter part of the year, however, employment will start to fall before returning to a positive track in 2024. These are the conclusions of the short-term Labour Market Forecast published by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on 11 May 2023.

16.6.2023 | The ‘Dismantling segregation’ development project carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health dismantled gender segregation in the labour market by strengthening collaboration between the business sector and education institutions in the Ostrobothnia regions, Eastern Finland, the Häme region and Southeast Finland. The project activit...

13.6.2024 | The Government is seeking to strengthen the link between work and work-based residence permits, and to improve permit supervision. Worker’s residence permit holders in Finland would also have better opportunities to find new employment in sectors with a labour shortage. The Government proposal has been circulated for comments between 13 June and 16 August 2024.

3.9.2024 | The 2025 budget proposal of Prime Minister Orpo's Government bolsters conditions for economic growth. Economic growth driven by the private sector will also serve to secure the financing base for central government finances. The fast-acting measures to curb indebtedness that were decided on due to the difficult situation in central government finances will move forward.