Finding employment under a foreign-sounding name has become slightly easier in Finland compared to eight years ago, but problems persist.
A new report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment — entitled "A Comparative Analysis of the Reception of Immigrants into Finnish Working Life in 2016 and 2024" — found that people of foreign background are increasingly more likely to get called for an interview.
This was especially the case for people with Somali or Iraqi names, with their chances of getting an interview callback improving significantly compared to the previous study.
"These findings suggest a shift towards greater inclusivity in the Finnish labour market, potentially driven by evolving hiring policies, growing acceptance of diversity and/or increased labour demand in the sectors studied," the ministry's report surmised.
However, in a separate press release, the Finnish government noted that the results of the report also show that "potential workforce remains untapped due to ethnic prejudices", as applicants with traditional Finnish names were more than twice as likely to receive a callback as those with Somali or Iraqi names.
The report was compiled by sending out 10,000 fictitious job applications to positions publicly advertised by Finland's network of TE offices. The applicants were more-or-less equally qualified, with the main difference being that their names sounded either Finnish, English, Russian, Iraqi or Somali.
All of the fictitious applicants had gone to school in Finland, which suggested to the prospective employers that they had either been born in Finland or moved here as minors. They all spoke excellent Finnish and their applications noted they were highly motivated, ambitious and flexible.
They ranged in age from 24 to 28, and were evenly divided between women and men.
The experiment focused on vacancies in the relatively lower-paid sectors of restaurant and catering, retail trade, cleaning, as well as clerical and customer service.
Although discrimination based on names appears to have decreased when compared to 2016, jobseekers with foreign-sounding names still needed to submit more applications than equally qualified applicants with standard Finnish names in order to be called for an interview.
Akhlaq Ahmad, a Docent of Sociology at the University of Helsinki, conducted the research behind both the 2016 and 2024 reports. He told Yle that while things have changed a little, there is still much to do.
"The applicant's name is almost as important as before. This means that applying for a job is still not equal for everyone," Ahmad noted. "Once again, jobseekers with Finnish names received by far the most interview invitations. This shows how deep-rooted structural barriers still exist in the Finnish labour market."
This was despite the fact that, on paper, the applicants were equally qualified in terms of work experience, qualifications and language skills.
The report also found that women were significantly more likely to get interview callbacks than men. This was the case across all ethnic groups included in the study.
Ahmad noted that Finnish employers may unconsciously favour women applicants, especially in sectors where customer service or care work is emphasised.
"This may also be due to prejudice against immigrant men," he suggested.
Slow, small improvements
Digging deeper into the numbers, the report revealed that applicants with Finnish-sounding names had an interview callback rate of 4.16. By comparison, English names received a rate of 3.03, Russians 2.21 and Iraqi applicants 2.02.
As was the case in 2016, applicants with Somali names received the lowest number of invitations to interview, at a rate of 1.68. However, this figure is still significantly higher than it was in 2016, when the callback rate was 0.99.
English and Iraqi names also performed better than before.
The only ethnic group to see a reversal was Russians, which Ahmad attributes to the war in Ukraine as well as the prevailing political climate.
In summary, Ahmad said he noted there have been some significant changes in 2024 compared to the data collected in 2016.
For example, Somali and Iraqi jobseekers now clearly have better access to the labour market. However, they are also still much less likely than Finnish applicants to be invited to job interviews.
He also noted that where a person lives in Finland affects their chances of being called to an interview. Somali and Iraqi jobseekers are more likely to be called to job interviews elsewhere in Finland than in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
He added that he is encouraged by the results, but not surprised.
"Given the talk of diversity and the country's labour shortage, it makes sense that more opportunities will open up for immigrant applicants," he said.
He did however issue a word of warning about the effect discrimination in the recruitment process can have on young people in particular.
"Discrimination based on name alone can damage a young person's self-esteem, lead to social exclusion and cause mental health problems," Ahmad said, adding that young people may be more prone to believing in the negative stereotypes and feel that they are less valuable than others.
"If a person feels excluded from society, this can have serious consequences," he concluded.
Do you have experience of name-based discrimination in the Finnish jobs market? Please tell us about your experience in the comments or by emailing yle.news@yle.fi.
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