Finnish technology industries employ more people abroad than locally

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The current economic situation of Finnish technology industries is excellent, but the future outlook looks uncertain, reported Martti Mäenpää, the Director General of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, speaking in Helsinki on Wednesday.
      At the end of March, the volume of orders in the machine and metals industry reached EUR 11 billion, while five yeas ago, the orders on hand were worth less than EUR 5 billion.
      "Apparently customers want to buy Finnish products", noted Mäenpää when presenting the technology industries’ economic outlook for 2008.
     
Last year, high demand for products resulted in a total of 9,000 new jobs in the Finnish technology sector, and over the first three months of the current year, a further 1,500 jobs were created.
      Finnish companies also grew abroad. For the first time, the Finnish technology industries now employ more people abroad than at home, while the total number of employees currently working for Finnish technology companies is 550,000.
      The number of foreign employees has increased particularly in western Europe and Asia.
      In addition to new plants, companies expand as a result of acquisitions. A good exaple of this is the merger of the Siemens and Nokia telecoms networks.
      In Finland, the technology sector currently employs a total of roughly 275,000 persons, while its share of the Finnish exports weighs in at around 60 per cent.
     
Growing demand for Finnish products means that the Finnish technology companies are now running at full capacity. Previously, the strong upswing in the economy increased investments, but at present investments are no longer made, says chief economist Jukka Palokangas from the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries.
      In fact, the number of new Finnish production investments has more or less collapsed, according to Palokangas.
      At the turn of the millennium, Finnish technology companies built new local production worth almost EUR 1 billion every year. Today, the sum is just over EUR 400 million.
      According to the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, there are several reasons for the reluctance to invest. Companies tend to expand in the vicinity of their customers, particularly in Asia. Moreover, in Finland there is a shortage of skilled labour, for example of welders.
      Besides, domestic labour is expensive. On average, an hour's labour from an employee in the technology sector hereabouts costs the employer around EUR 25, while in China and India the corresponding sum is EUR 0.50 to 1.


Links:
  The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries

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