Living and Working in Finland Employment and Economic Development Office of Jyväskylä, Finland

Finnish labour market

72 % of employees work under a permanent full time contract Some 15 % of employees work under a fixed-term contract Some 12 % of employees have part-time contract 1-2 % of employees work as temporary agency workers Women generally participate in the labour market, their employment rate being 71 % About 70 % of the population has a vocational educationUpper secondary school level qualifications 39 %

Higher educations (University of Applied Sciences or University) 28 %

Source: Statistics Finland 7/2012

Employment and unemployment in July 2012

Labour shortages and unemployment commonly occur simultaneously in the Finnish labour market Employment rate 72,7 % Unemployment rate 10,2 %

Espoo 6,9 Turku 14,6

Helsinki 8,9 Oulu 15,4

Vantaa 9,3 Tampere 14,2

Kuopio 11,3 Lahti 15,1

Jyväskylä 14,2

Regional labour market situation

(2011)

Labour shortagesmost problematic sectors: health care and services

TOP 10 shortages in May 2012 registered nurses laboratory nurses, radiographers medical doctors social workers social welfare workers, personal assistants nursery school teachers special education teachers cleaners sales representatives and telemarketers accounting staff

Source: Occupational barometer, Ministry of Employment and the Economy

Enough unemployed in May 2012

unskilled jobseekers (no education, no experience) construction workers without vocational education industrial workers without vocational education telecommunications engineers IT operators and IT support persons assemblers of electric and electronic products tailors, dressmakers artists (visual arts) office workers travel agents, guides

Source: Occupational barometer, Ministry of Employment and the Economy

National labour administration: www.mol.fi ”Avoimet työpaikat” (vacancies) > under ”Maakunta” select the last option ”Koko Suomi” (whole Finland) > ”sanahaku” (keyword) > write ”English”> push enter

EURES Portal: http://eures.europa.eu Academic recruitment services: www.aarresaari.net Companies often recruit through their own internet sites.

Typical address is: www.companyname.fi List of 100 largest Finnish companies: www.uranus.fi Vacancies in the largest newspapers www.oikotie.fi Private recruitment agencies e.g. www.manpower.fi,

www.adecco.fi, www.barona.fi, www.staffpoint.fi, www.hpl.fi

The national helpline Työlinja +358 295 020 700 Mo-Fri between 8-18: Personal advice about work, jobs and labour market.

Searching for a job

 

Collective agreements (ca. 160) specifying pay rates for various sectors like Commercial sector, Construction industry, Hotel and restaurant industry, Financial sector etc.

If there is no collective agreement (e.g. domestic helpers), the salary should be at least 1 103 €/month (in 2012)

More information about labor legislation: www.tyosuojelu.fi, www.mol.fi/finnwork, www.tem.fi

Ask for the employment contract in written form!

Terms of Employment

Regular working hours are usually at most 8 hours daily and 40 hours weekly, but in collective agreements it has been negotiated down to an average of 37,5 hours

Overtime is compensated with a higher rate of pay and there are limitations on overtime: it’s allowed to do maximum 138 hours of overtime during each four-month period and during a calender year a maximum of 250 hours

Annual holiday is at least 4 weeks (when the employment has

lasted up to a year) and 5 weeks (when the job has continued over a year)

There are an average 9 paid national holidays a year

Some 68 % of workers belong to a trade union

The central federations are:I. The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK

(industries, transport, private service industries) www.sak.fi

II. The Finnish Confederation of salaried Employees STTK (white-collar employees, service sector and industries) www.sttk.fi

III. The Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland AKAVA www.akava.fi

Engineer 3 500 – 4 200 € / month Carpenter 2 400 – 3 000 € / month Secretary 2 100 – 2 400 € / month Bus driver 2 500 € / month Cleaner 1 600 – 2 400€ / month Market seller 1 800 – 2 100 € /month Nurse 2 800 – 3 300 € / month Social worker 3 000 € / month

An average Finnish salary 3190 €/month (January 2012)Source: Statistics Finland

Examples of gross incomes

Income tax: Up to 6 months: tax at source 35%

NB! Tax deduction of 510 € each month or 17 € per day for each working day

More than 6 months: progressive income tax including: Social security payments 7,9 % Members of the Finnish Lutheran/ Orthodox church pay a

church tax 1 – 2,15% Local taxes vary from one city/municipality to the other

For example the share of all taxes and compulsory contributions salary 2500 €/month = 25 %, 3000 €/month = 29 %

More information about taxation: www.vero.fi

Taxation

Documents concerning work and education history required U1/E301-form (transferring work history from other EU/EEA -countries)

I. The Unemployment allowance (employment condition 34 weeks, ~ 8 months work in last 28 months)

a) Basic allowance (paid by The Social Insurance Institution of Finland Kela)

b) Earnings-related (unemployment funds, e.g www.ytk.fi )

II.The Labour market subsidy If you haven’t got enough work history Benefit for a single person gross 31,36 €/day (in 2012)

www.kela.fi (basic allowance and labour market subsidy)

www.tyj.fi (earnings-related)

Finnish unemployment benefits

In order to be able to register as a jobseeker you must have: - a residence permit A or P (continuous or permanent) or - a residence permit B or an EU/EEA-citizenship.

With B-permit you are not entitled to unemployment benefits.Registration for B-permit holders is recommended:

- at the last stage of your studies (e.g. in last year) or - when you speak Finnish well.

Without any registration you can get these services at our Recruitment centre 1. floor:

- help in creating CVs and applications by appointment- information on educational possibilities.

Services of Employment Office for foreigners

If you have “Full Rights” for services you can get:(Kela has issued you a decision on your right for Finnish social security benefits)

- Unemployment benefits- Vocational counselling (career planning)- Labour market training + job seeking training- Special services for disabled (occupational rehabilitation)- Subsidized placement and traineeships- Subsidy for job seeking travels in Finland- Start-up grant for setting up a business

Jyväskylä Employment and Economic Development Office (TE-Office)

Vapaudenkatu 58 AOpen daily at 9.00–15.45

EURES services, 1. floor

Immigrant services, 3. floor

(Open at 12.00-15.45)