Finland’s high unemployment has led to overwhelming competition for the few available jobs with employers now reluctant to post openings publicly.
Published: 26/08/25 | 18:18
Currently even a single job advertisement can attract hundreds of applications.
For example, Radientum, an engineering company based in Tampere reported receiving 300 applications for just two technical specialist roles. CEO Jukka Sjöstedt explained that reviewing and replying to all applicants can take up to a week.
Because of the heavy workload caused by so many responses some employers have opted to keep their vacancies unadvertised. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment less than half of all job openings are now made public. A survey by the YTK unemployment fund earlier this year also revealed that 68 percent of respondents had found their most recent position through so-called hidden jobs that are the vacancies that were never posted online or publicly announced.
Statistics Finland reports that the number of available positions dropped by nearly 40 percent in the second quarter compared to last year. At the same time new Eurostat figures show Finland now has the second-highest unemployment rate in Europe behind only Spain.
Since municipalities face financial penalties when residents remain unemployed for long periods local employment agencies have stepped up their efforts to uncover unlisted jobs which are often filled informally.
So far this year municipalities’ share of unemployment benefit costs has risen by more than 100 million euros.
In Tampere for example, the city’s employment agency has been calling companies directly. The city’s recruitment services reported reaching out to around 2,000 employers and making in-person visits to about 1,000 businesses.
“Through these efforts we have discovered many hidden vacancies and in some cases even created new opportunities,” said Sami Heikkilä, who is the head of recruitment services in Tampere.
Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey recorded 269,000 unemployed people last month, which is 40,000 more than in July of the previous year.
Unemployment rose across all age groups but youth unemployment is particularly severe. Among those under 25 there were 41,900 unemployed jobseekers, which is an increase of 5,300 compared to last July.
“The number of unemployed young people aged 15-24 remained high in July. This was already visible in the lack of summer jobs in June. The outlook for recent graduates is also weak,” said Pertti Taskinen, who is the chief actuary at Statistics Finland.
