Employers in Finland are ranked as having slightly above-average difficulty in hiring, according to staffing firm ManpowerGroup’s annual Talent Shortage survey.
In Finland, about 45 percent of executives polled said they have a hard time finding qualified staff, which was in fact just about the global average. Meanwhile neighbouring Sweden and Norway are ranked as having below-average difficulty, with 40 and 25 percent respectively. Russia and Estonia were not included.
The Finnish figure is up from 37 percent in the 2016 survey. Worldwide, the shortage is the worst in a dozen years, the report says. Some 40,000 employers in 43 countries take part in the poll.
IT skills not up-to-date
Finnish companies suffer from both a shortfall in applicants and a lack of skills and experience among those who do apply, the report suggests.
The positions that are most difficult to find suitable candidates for fall under the general categories of “professional workers” and “experts,” as well as drivers, customer service representatives, technicians, cleaners, salespeople, engineers and accounting staff.
The report says that the know-how gap has widened in recent years due to the rapid development of information work, technology and the digital world. As a result, there is a shortfall in applicants whose skills in these areas are up-to-date.
According to Statistics Finland, there were 261,000 unemployed people in Finland in May, 35,000 fewer than a year earlier. It says the unemployment rate declined to 9.3 percent, compared to 10.7 percent in May 2017.