Unemployment among graduates continues to rise in Helsinki for fourth year in a row

In Espoo last year was difficult, but situation has now improved slightly

print this

In the capital area the highly educated people that drift into unemployment in ever-increasing numbers are a cause of serious worry.
      The labour market has become more unpredictable than ever before. Just about anybody can find themselves abruptly parted from their employer nowadays.
      In Helsinki, at the end of last year there were almost one thousand highly educated people who had been without work for over a year.
      The total number of those in long-term unemployment was just under 8,400.
      Some of these people have been unemployed since the recession of the mid-1990s, when the Finnish capital was afflicted with an unemployment rate of over 18%.
     
In Espoo, last year was particularly difficult and the renewal of personnel negotiations was a commonplace in many businesses. The situation has since improved slightly, but there are still 1,500 academically trained people, including economists and graduate engineers, who are without work.
      In the capital area the number of unemployed with either a graduate or undergraduate degree rose by a fifth last year.
      Most difficulties are concentrated in the private commercial and technical sectors. State and municipal jobs have been more obtainable.
     
Finland's education policy decisions have made things worse. Polytechnic institutes have increased their number of students so much that they now turn out more than 20,000 graduates each year.
      New jobs have not been created in a similar fashion.
      Those with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration (BBA) have been hit particularly hard. Their unemployment rate has increased by 21 percent since June 2003.
      The difficulties started when the institutes started admitting more students. Eight thousand people start their BBA studies each year.
      The Finnish Business Polytechnic Graduates Association and AKAVA, the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland, have expressed their concern over the number of professionals in jobs that do not match their level of education. Their number has doubled in ten years and is now nearly 15 percent of the new graduates. 


Links:
  AKAVA

Helsingin Sanomat