Finns moving house more than ever
Pension bomb still looms despite increased immigration
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Finns are moving house at a high rate, even by European standards. Last year about 290,000 people in Finland relocated to another municipality. Most of the internal migrants are young students who settle in the city where they study. Another big group are young adults who have finished their studies, and who seek more spacious accommodations on the outskirts of growth centres.
The latter trend has moved so many people outside the communities where they work that one in three of those with jobs cross a municipal border during the daily commute.
There are about 750,000 commuters who cross municipal lines on a daily basis, and 150,000 of them come to work in Helsinki.
International migration is also on the increase. Last year the number of immigrants entering Finland was 10,000 greater than the number of Finns who left. However, from the point of view of employment, Finland has suffered a net loss. Finns who leave for other countries usually have jobs, while new immigrants often remain unemployed for fairly long periods of time.
Pekka Myrskylä, head of development at Statistics Finland, has studied issues related to migration and the labour market. Although the employment level of older Finns after the recession of the 1990s has increased at a higher rate in Finland than in most other parts of Europe, the increasing average age of the population will sharply reduce the numbers of people with jobs.
In the present decade, only the southern region of Uusimaa can enjoy an increase in the working population. After 2010 the trend is expected to reverse in Uusimaa as well.
Immigration can help, but Myrskylä feels that even then, keeping the number of people employed even at the present level would require a "utopian increase" in the employment level.
Every job applicant should get a job, if the long-term goal of a 72 percent employment level is to be achieved. The nationwide employment rate should rise by four percentage points in the whole country. In the east and north of Finland, the increase would have to be more than ten points, and in Kainuu a full 20 percentage points.
By European comparison, Finns - especially young Finns - are a very mobile sort.
"In all types of mobility, Finland is number one in Europe, and in relocation across a municipal border Finns are in first or second place", says Matti Sihto, an expert on labour market affairs at the Ministry of Labour.
With more young people leaving, many municipalities that are losing population have been largely sucked dry. It is these communities that are the first to feel the impact of mass retirement.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 12.12.2006 - TODAY |
 Finns moving house more than ever
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