The number of employees in Finland with foreign backgrounds has passed 240,000, with new data showing they now make up nearly 10 percent of the country’s 2.4 million working population.
Figures from Statistics Finland, obtained by Yle, show the number of foreign-background workers has increased by more than 100,000 in the past decade. In several professions, their presence now exceeds 40 percent.
The largest groups come from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, the Philippines and Iraq. The classification includes people whose parents, or only known parent, were born abroad.
In 2023, the highest number of foreign-background employees worked as office cleaners, builders and sales staff. Social care workers have also entered the top ranks. Among office cleaners, the proportion of foreign-background workers reached 44 percent last year, compared with 23 percent in 2013.
Some professions have seen the number of Finnish-background workers decline at the same pace that foreign-background numbers have risen. In taxi services, this change is particularly clear.
According to Annukka Mickelsson, CEO of the Finnish Taxi Association, the 2018 deregulation of the taxi industry made it easier to enter the sector and led to a sharp rise in new drivers. At the same time, earnings fell, leading many Finnish drivers to leave.
“Older drivers retired, and younger Finns do not see taxi work as attractive,” Mickelsson told Yle.
In 2013, most taxi drivers were Finnish. Today, one in four has a foreign background.
The trend is also clear in cleaning services. Mia Backström, CEO of MTB-Siivouspalvelu, a cleaning company based in Espoo, said that 95 percent of the firm’s over 200 cleaners now have foreign backgrounds.
“Native Finns are no longer willing to take cleaning jobs. It’s seen as low-paid and undervalued,” Backström told Yle.
Backström said that when her company has vacancies, only immigrants apply. In the 1990s, the ratio was reversed: 95 percent Finnish, 5 percent immigrant.
In some sectors, foreign-background workers now dominate. Among university research and teaching assistants, their share is 71 percent. The same applies to some technical roles. Among home cleaners and domestic helpers, the proportion is 40 percent.
IT roles have also seen rapid increases. In fields such as system maintenance, the number of foreign-background professionals has increased by nearly 1,000 percent over ten years, albeit from a low starting point.
In the automotive sector, the number of foreign-background mechanics has risen from under 1,200 in 2013 to more than 2,400. In the same period, the number of Finnish-background mechanics has dropped by about 1,000.
Janne Mäki, CEO of Atoy Autohuolto, said that the company does not consider nationality in its hiring process.
“We hire people who know how to use tools and have the right attitude,” Mäki said. Around 10 percent of Atoy’s 150 mechanics have foreign backgrounds, with recruits arriving from countries such as Estonia, Romania and others in the Middle East.
Mäki said the main challenge is finding skilled workers, regardless of background.
In healthcare, foreign-background workers are also present in visible numbers. Thirteen percent of general practitioners and 10 percent of dentists come from foreign backgrounds. Many patients report that their doctor’s native language is not Finnish.
But in some sectors, the trend is reversed. Jobs in state central administration, the military, police, farming and courts still employ more than 99 percent Finnish-background workers. Similar dominance is seen among postmen and agricultural deputies, where the number of foreign-background workers has dropped by a third since 2013.
The data shows clear occupational divisions. In roles with lower wages or physical labour, such as cleaning, construction and transport, foreign-background workers are now essential. In high-ranking civil service and legal roles, nearly all workers are still Finnish.
Sole Cajas, a kindergarten teacher originally from Argentina, has worked in early childhood education in Vantaa for 12 years. She arrived in Finland to help her brother with childcare and later received a work permit.
“This is my field. It’s important to do this job with heart, because we work with small children. You want to leave a mark on them,” Cajas said.
According to Statistics Finland, some of the sharpest percentage increases are in small roles where the starting number of foreign-background workers was low. For example, kiosk and market sellers, domestic cleaners, and system maintainers have all seen their foreign-background workforce grow by several hundred percent since 2013.
The share of foreign-background workers across all occupations has nearly doubled in the past ten years. This change is not evenly distributed. In some roles, the shift is marginal. In others, foreign-background workers are replacing Finnish workers in large numbers.
The full dataset published by Yle, based on Statistics Finland figures, allows users to check how their profession has changed over the past decade.
HT