Foreigners in Finland

Living and Working in Finland
Information for an EU Jobseeker
Name of the event, date
Employment and Economic Development Office of XXXX,
Finland
Updated in February 2012
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
- 5,4 million inhabitants
- parliamentary republic since 1917
- neighbouring countries: Sweden,
Norway, Russia, Estonia
- two official languages: Finnish (92%)
and Swedish (5,4%)
- religions: Evangelical-Lutherans
(78,3%), Orthodoxs (1,1%)
- member of the EU since 1995
- foreign citizens 3,1% (mainly in
Helsinki metropolitan area)
- currency: Euro
Biggest cities number of inhabitants
Helsinki
Espoo
Tampere
Vantaa
Turku
Oulu
Jyväskylä
Lahti
595
250
215
202
178
144
131
102
000
000
000
000
000
000
000
000
Four seasons - cold winters and warm summers
2010 extremes:
- 41.3 C (Kuhmo) + 37.2 C (Joensuu)
Finnish labour market
 74 % of employees work under a permanent full time contract
 Some 15% of employees work under a fixed-term contract
 Some 15 % of employees have part-time contract
 Women generally participate in the labour market,
their employment rate being 68,3 %
 Some 75% of workers belong to a trade union
 Labour shortages and unemployment commonly occur
simultaneously in the Finnish labour market
Source: Statistics Finland 11/2011
Finnish labour market
Number of employed persons 70,000 more than one year
earlier (11/2011) (Statistics of Finland 2011)
 Employment rate 68,3 % 2010 (OECD/ILO definition)
 Unemployment rate 8,4 %, 2010 (OECD/ILO definition)
 40 000 new vacancies at the Employment and Economic Development
Office (TE Office) (2011)
Source: OECD Aug/Dec 2011, Statistics of Finland 2011
Regional
labour
market
situation
(2011)
Unemployment rate in Finland, in EU
and in the certain industrial countries , %
14
Standardised Unemployment rates, Seasonally adjusted
Finland
EU
USA
Japan
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2000
2001
2 5 .1 .2 0 1 2 /ty o t1 3 /TEM
Source: Eurostat
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Labour shortages
Most problematic sectors: health care and services
TOP 10 Shortages 2011
- registered nurses
- medical doctors
- sales representatives
- accounting staff
- psychologist
- cooks/chef
- cleaners
- physiotherapist
- social workers
- waiters
Foreigners in Finland
 3,1 % of the population are foreigners
(167 954)
 Biggest nationality groups are Estonians
(29 080), Russians(28 426),
Swedes (8 510) and Somalis (6 593)
 The sectors with most foreign workers
are agriculture & forestry, services and
construction
 56 000 foreign jobseekers in the TE
Offices, which is 7 % of all the jobseekers
(31.12.2010)
Foreigners in Finland
(31.12.2010)
35000
30000
29080
28426
25000
20000
15000
10000
8510
6593
5559
5000
5024
5021
3973
3715
3468
Turkey
Germany
India
0
Estonia
Russia
Sweden
Somalia
China
Iraq
Source: Population Register Centre
Thailand
Searching for a job
 Employment and Economic Development Office - vacancies:
www.mol.fi
 Vacancies in the largest newspapers www.oikotie.fi
 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
 Private recruitment agencies e.g. www.hpl.fi, www.manpower.fi,
www.adecco.fi, www.barona.fi, www.staffpoint.fi,
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 16 universities and 25 polytechnics
 over 400 study programmes are taught in English in Finnish
higher education institutes
 In 2010 appr. 9000 students came to Finland, mostly from
Germany (1235), France (1208), Spain (896), Italy (522), Russia
(425) and Poland (372)
 Finland was one of the most popular destination countries for
exchange students (10th 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 and Economic
Development Office (TE Office)
www.mol.fi
Transferring unemployment
benefits / U2 -form
 Contact your employment office in your home country well before
your departure to Finland and ask for the U2 –form
 Register at the Employment and Economic Development Office
(TE Office) in Finland within 7 days on your arrival and show the
U2 –form
 The Finnish TE office will give a statement to your home country
and you will get your unemployment benefit normally to your own
bank account (like you would get it at home)
Finnish unemployment benefits
 Documents concerning work and education history
 U1/E301-form (transferring work history from other EU/EEA -countries)
 1) The unemployment allowance (employment condition 34 weeks,
~ 8 months work in last 28 months)
 employment condition 8 months)
 Basic allowance (paid by The Social Insurance Institution
of Finland Kela)
 Earnings-related (unemployment funds, e.g www.ytk.fi )
 2) The labour market subsidy
 Integration assistance to immigrants
 For a single person: 31,36 €/day (in 2012)
 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 1.103 €/month in 2012)
 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,
www.tem.fi ˃ labour legislation
Ask for the employment contract in written form!
Examples of gross incomes
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Engineer 4 200 € / month
Carpenter 3 000 € / month
Secretary 2 100 – 2 400 € / month
Bus driver 2 660 € / month
Cleaner 1 500 – 2 000€ / month
Shop assistant 1 700 – 2 100 € /month
Nurse 2 830 € / month
Social worker 2 900 € / month
An average Finnish salary 3119 €/month (2011)
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
 for example: the share of all taxes and compulsory
contributions (incl. social security payments 7,3 %)
salary 2500 €/month > 25 %, 3000 €/month > 29 %
 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%)
Costs of living
Accommodation
 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
Accommodation – More information
 Internet portals: www.oikotie.fi,
www.etuovi.com
 Yellow pages: www.keltaisetsivut.fi
 Newspapers: www.sanomalehdet.fi
 Housing in Finland: www.housing.fi
 Municipalities in Finland:
www.kunnat.net
 Youth hostels: www.hostellit.fi
Costs of living
Food and beverage
• Milk 1 l
• Eggs kg
• Bread kg
• Coffee 500 g
• Beer l
Others
0,94 €
3,00 €
4,30 €
4,30 €
2–4€
Public and private transport
• Petrol 95 E/ 1litre
• Train trip 400 km
• Bus card,1 month,
1,60
55 €
43 €
www.stat.fi , National Consumer Research Centre
Kindergarten
Library
Cinema ticket
250 € max/month
free of charge
9-10 €
Further information
 EURES portal:
eures.europa.eu
 Ministry of Employment and the Economy:
www.tem.fi
 Foreigners working in Finland
www.mol.fi/finnwork, www.infopankki.fi
 Studying and practical training in Finland:
www.studyinfinland.fi
 General information on Finland:
www.thisisFINLAND.fi
Welcome to Finland!