Marja Airio, Minister of Labour Tarja Cronberg

As the economy slows, one might be forgiven for thinking that a labour shortage would be the last of policy-makers’ concerns. However, government ministers are warning that short-term economic developments should not obscure inexorable long-term trends. Unemployment may edge slightly upwards in the near future but thousands of baby-boomers are heading into retirement over the coming decade. Therefore the need to develop a plan to fill the resulting gap in the workforce becomes ever more pressing.

In a seminar on employment held 30 October in Helsinki, experts calculated that the Finnish labour force will contract by some 200,000 workers by 2020. The solution, speakers argued, consisted of lengthening the working life of Finns, increasing productivity and planned and steady immigration.

Speaking at a press conference following the seminar, Minister of Employment and the Economy Mauri Pekkarinen urged employers to restrain from laying off workers or extending unpaid leave in the face of present economic difficulties. He reminded businesses that such moves would be shortsighted because as soon as the economy begins to recover skilled labour will be in short supply.

The minister also sought to reassure businesses by emphasising that the government is ready to assist them in the form of loans, guarantees and venture capital investments. Should bank requirements for stronger credit or collateral prove problematic, state funding agencies such as Finnvera and Finnish Industry Investment could fill the void. Finnvera also maintains an export credit guarantee programme for exporters.

Minister of Labour Tarja Cronberg added that while employment is set to weaken somewhat in the near future, in her opinion a return to the mass-unemployment of the 1990s is unlikely.

Lengthening careers

A further element of the government’s strategy to confront the looming skilled labour shortage is to focus on getting young Finns into work sooner. Raimo Sailas, State Secretary to the Minister of Education, has argued that this first entails getting them into university sooner.

Indicating that Sailas’ concerns had been heard, Minister of Education Sari Sarkomaa declared plans for reforms in tertiary education policy. She announced that in the future university entrance exams will no longer require months of intense studying. In this manner young high school graduates will not need to delay their transition into higher education any longer than necessary.

At the other end of working life, initiatives aimed at encouraging older workers to delay retirement have already been made. Minister of Social Affairs and Health Liisa Hyssälä is now focusing on raising the rate of employment among Finns aged 55-64, an area where Finland fares poorly in comparison with the other Nordic countries. She added that it should be possible to come back into the workforce even after retirement.

Foreign labour key, Thors argues

These measures will not be enough to compensate the labour force’s gradual decline, however, which is why ministers are also discussing ways to raise productivity, especially in the public sector. Sai-
las hastened to point out that this would not mean placing still greater demands for flexibility on nurses, but he did believe that productivity issues in certain areas, such as specialist nursing, ought to be discussed and tackled.

Finally, Minister of Immigration and European Affairs Astrid Thors argued that the health care sector in particular will require an injection of foreign labour, as the health needs of an ageing population place extra strain on health services. She suggested that more resources be allocated to active recruitment initiatives on the part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Olli Kemppainen – STT
David J. Cord,
Matthew Parry – HT