According to the Central Chamber of Commerce, increasing immigration is a key means of reducing the skills shortage.
Labor shortage limits growth and business development in a significant number of Finnish companies, according to a recent Chamber of Commerce survey.
According to the survey, almost 60 percent of companies have a shortage of skilled labor. Despite the weakening of business cycles, only four percent of companies say that there is an oversupply of skilled labor.
“These numbers are staggering. When, even in a weakened economic situation, a large number of companies still suffer from the availability of labor, this problem is still very acute in Finland,” says the Deputy CEO of the Central Chamber of Commerce Johanna Sipola in the bulletin.
The Keskuskauppakamari is an interest organization that strives to improve the position of companies.
The Central Chamber of Commerce says that the weakened economic situation has temporarily affected companies’ employment opportunities and the need for labor. If measures to alleviate the skills shortage are not taken proactively, companies will run into serious problems when the economy recovers, the Central Chamber of Commerce warns.
“When the economy gets back on track for growth, companies’ shortage of skilled labor will increase significantly. Finland must be ready for this, so that we do not stifle the growth potential of companies by our own actions,” says Sipola.
From being weakened despite the economic situation, the companies’ outlook for the near future is positive, the results of the survey show. Almost 70 percent of companies estimate that their need to hire employees will increase in the next 2–3 years.
From the point of view of companies, the most important reasons for recruitment challenges are applicants’ limited work experience, intensified competition for employees and the fact that there are not enough applicants for open positions.
The companies’ need is especially for employees who have completed vocational training. There is also a shortage of workers with a university of applied sciences degree.
“The greatest need is especially for professional experts, and the need has been repeated in our surveys every year. Companies’ views on key solutions must be listened to. A key way is to significantly increase the immigration of skilled workers, because our own population will not cover the needs of companies in the long term,” says Sipola.
More than 1,150 companies from different industries from different parts of Finland responded to the survey conducted at the beginning of September.
The lack of workers despite this, there are also a lot of change negotiations going on in Finland right now, as a result of which many have to worry about their jobs.
Indeed, many companies have announced in recent weeks that they will start change negotiations.
For example, a researcher at the Institute for Economic Research (Etla). Sakari Lähdemäki said in the news published by HS on Tuesday that unemployment will probably increase as the fall progresses.
“This year, the labor market situation remained surprisingly good over the summer considering that it has been known that this year we will be heading towards a recession or a period of slower economic growth. The economic situation at the end of the year is such that the number of unemployed will presumably increase,” he says.
The weak economic situation is especially testing construction and cyclically sensitive industrial sectors. For example, the situation is better in service industries.
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