Living and Working in Finland
Information for an EU Jobseeker
IOLAVORO 9-10 OTTOBRE, Torino
Employment and Economic Development Office of Hämeenlinna
Region, Finland
Updated in September 2009
Living and Working in Finland
Contents
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Introduction
Labour market situation
Searching for a job
Training and studying
Moving to Finland
Living and working conditions
Where to find further information
Introduction
- 5,3 million inhabitants
- parliamentary republic since 1917
- neighbouring countries: Sweden,
Norway, Russia, Estonia
- two official languages: Finnish (92%)
and Swedish (5,5%)
- religions: Evangelical-Lutherans
(80,6%), Orthodoxs (1,1%) (2008)
- member of the EU since 1995
- foreign citizens 2,7% (mainly in
Helsinki metropolitan area) (2008)
- currency: Euro
Employed persons by sector
2nd quarter 2009
Agriculture and forestry (5%)
12 %
27 %
Industry (16%)
5%
Construction (7%)
Trade and hotel (16%)
16 %
7%
10 %
7%
Transport and communication
(10%)
Financial and business services
(7%)
Public services (27%)
Other services (12%)
16 %
Source: Statistics Finland
Characteristics of
the Finnish labour market
 76% of employees work under a permanent full time contract
 Some 15% of employees work under a fixed-term contract, c.
two thirds of these are women
 Women generally participate in the labour market, their
employment rate being 68,5 %. Women are also mainly
full-time employees.
 21 % of jobs are part-time
 Some 75% of workers belong to a trade union
 Labour shortages and unemployment commonly occur
simultaneously in the Finnish labour market
Source: Statistics Finland 2009/08
Characteristics of
the Finnish labour market
Employment and unemployment in August 2009
 Number of employed persons 95,000 less than one year
earlier
 Employment rate 68,7% (OECD/ILO definition)
 Unemployment rate 7,6%, 203 000 unemployed
(OECD/ILO definition)
 32 000 new vacancies at employment offices (08/2009)
Source: Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland
Regional
labour
market
situation
(2008)
Unemployment rate in Finland, in EU
and in the certain industrial countries , %
20
Standardised Unemployment rates, Seasonally adjusted
Finland
EU
USA
Japan
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1990
1992
1994
22.9.2009/tyot13/TEM
Source: OECD, Eurostat
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
Labour shortages
most problematic sectors: health care and services
TOP 10 Shortages (May 2009)
- registered nurse
- hairdresser/barber
- practical nurse
- cleaner
- waitress
- taxi driver
- cook/chef
- sales representative
- sales agent
- telesales person
Foreigners in Finland
 2,7 % of the population are foreigners (143 200)
 Biggest nationality groups are Russians (26 900), Estonians
(22 500), Swedes (8 500) and Somalis (4 900)
 The sectors with most foreign workers are agriculture & forestry,
industry and construction
 35 000 unemployed foreigners
Foreigners in Finland
Biggest nationality groups
(31.12.2008)
30000
26900
25000
22500
20000
15000
10000
8500
4900
5000
4500
3900
3500
3400
3200
3200
Thailand
Germany
Turkey
Great
Britain
Iraq
0
Russia
Estonia
Sweden
Somalia
China
Lähde: Väestötietojärjestelmä
Searching for a job
National labour administration: www.mol.fi
EURES Portal: http://eures.europa.eu
Academic recruitment services: www.aarresaari.net
Companies often recruit through their own internet sites.
Typical address is: www.companyname.fi
 List of 100 largest Finnish companies: www.uranus.fi
 Vacancies in the largest newspapers www.oikotie.fi
 Private recruitment agencies e.g. www.manpower.fi,
www.adecco.fi, www.barona.fi, www.staffpoint.fi
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Direct contact with employers!
Standard application
procedures
 CV and application letter - possibly also copies of school leaving
certificates and references
 examples of CVs: http://europass.europa.eu
 employers usually choose 3 to 5 applicants to be interviewed
 certificates and references will be studied closely
 for demanding posts usually 2 to 3 interviews will be
conducted; possible also an aptitude test
 some employers make only the final selection - the rest of the
recruitment process may be outsourced
Practical training and
studying
 many practical training opportunities for international students and
recent graduates in Finland
 Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) organizes many of the
practical training programmes - see also student organisations like
ELSA, IAAS, IFMSA, AIESEC
 Master Thesis/ Thesis co-operation available
 degree studying (Bachelor’s or Master’s degree) is free of charge
 More information:
CIMO - Centre for International Mobility www.studyinfinland.fi
International student mobility
 Finland has 20 universities and 30 polytechnics
 over 400 study programmes are taught in English in Finnish
higher education
 ERASMUS student mobility in academic year 2007-2008:
appr. 6400 foreign students to Finland, mostly from Germany
(1080), France (880), Spain (760), Poland (482) and Italy (394)
 Finland was one of the most popular destination countries for
exchange students (7th among 31 countries)
Recognition of qualifications
Finnish National Board of Education (OPH)
 Contact before coming to Finland
 recognition required for posts in public sector
 not required for private sector, unless the profession in question
is regulated (e.g. electricians, pilots)
 Right to practise profession needed for the following
professions: health care professionals, veterinary surgeons,
chartered public finance auditors, chartered accountants,
advocates, seafarers
 Different authorities grant the right
 More information: www.oph.fi/info/recognition
Moving to Finland - First steps
 EU registration at the local police: www.poliisi.fi
 Population register and home municipality at the
magistrate/registration office: www.maistraatti.fi
 Social security at the local social insurance office: www.kela.fi
 If employed: Tax card at the local tax office www.vero.fi
 If unemployed: Employment office www.mol.fi
Transferring unemployment
benefits / E 303 -form
 Contact your employment office in your home country well before
your departure to Finland and ask for the E 303 -form
 Register at the employment office in Finland within 7 days on your
arrival and show the E 303 -form (the employment office signs
the form)
 Hand out the form to the Kela office
 Open a bank account
Finnish unemployment benefits
 Documents concerning work and education history
 E 301- form
 1) The unemployment allowance (employment condition 10
months)
 Basic allowance (social insurance, Kela)
 Earnings-related (unemployment funds, e.g www.ytk.fi )
 2) The labour market subsidy
 Integration assistance to immigrants
 For a single person: 25,63 €/day (in 2009)
 www.kela.fi (basic allowance and labour market subsidy)
 www.tyj.fi (earnings-related)
Terms of Employment
 Collective agreements specifying pay rates for various sectors
 If there is no collective agreement (e.g. domestic helpers), the
salary should be at least 1.019 €/month (in 2009)
 Regular working hours are 8 hours per day and 40 hours per
week, with two days' leave per calendar month worked
 More information: www.tyosuojelu.fi, www.mol.fi/finnwork
Ask for the employment contract in written form!
Examples of gross incomes
 Private sector (2008):
 IT Programmer 3 661 € / month
 Carpenter 2 500 € / month
 Hairdresser/Barber 1 967 € / month
 Truck driver 2 449 € / month
 Public sector (2008):
 Cleaner 1 762 € / month
 Class teacher 3 060 € /month
 Nurse 2 688 € / month
 Librarian 2 308 € / month
An average Finnish salary 2 862 €/month (2008, 4th quarter)
Source: Statistics Finland
Taxation
 Income tax:
 Up to 6 months: tax at source 35%
NB! Tax deduction of 510 € each month or 17 € per day for
each working day
 More than 6 months: progressive income tax
 Average Finnish salary 2 862 €/month (34 344 €/year):
the share of taxes and compulsory contributions is between 21
and 26.5 %*
 More information: www.vero.fi
* local taxes vary from one city/municipality to the other; in addition, members
of the Finnish Lutheran/ Orthodox church pay a church tax (1 – 2,25%)
Accommodation
Where to look for?
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Internet portals: www.oikotie.fi, www.etuovi.com
Yellow pages: www.keltaisetsivut.fi
Private companies: e.g. www.sato.fi, www.yh.fi
Newspapers: www.sanomalehdet.fi
Information about housing in Finland: www.housing.fi
Municipalities in Finland: www.kunnat.net
Youth hostels: www.srmnet.org
Accommodation
How much will it cost?
 Average rent for a two room flat (50 m2): 400 – 700 €/month
 Average price for a two room flat: 80 000 – 120 000 €
 In Helsinki metropolitan area the prices are considerably higher,
in the countryside considerably lower
Further information:
 Information of living and working, vacancies:
http://eures.europa.eu
 Detailed information for foreign workers:
www.mol.fi/finnwork, www.infopankki.fi
 Studying and practical training:
www.studyinfinland.fi
 General information: http://virtual.finland.fi
Welcome to Finland!