The report, published on Thursday, says that foreigners face prejudice, unnecessary language requirements, discrimination, lack of recognition of qualifications and lower pay than their Finnish counterparts in the Finnish labor market.
The technical trade union TEK commissioned a report which found several defects in the employers.
"Many of the disadvantages they face are directly due to discrimination and prejudice in recruitment practices and in hiring employers," the report found.
TEK launched a study earlier this year to try to find out the reasons for the relatively high unemployment rate of people with a foreign background. In June of this year, 27.5 per cent of immigrants living permanently in Finland were unemployed, while in July the unemployment rate was only 7.1 per cent.
The report found that some of the reasons for the high level of unemployment among immigrants, especially in the technology sector, included the requirement of employers; "fluent" Proficiency in the Finnish language, lack of recognition of foreign skills and qualifications and Finnish bureaucracy.
Fluent Finnish is used as an “excuse”
With regard to fluency in the Finnish language, the report asked why this was such an important requirement for employers, especially when fluency is "very subjective" benchmark.
"It often feels like it "fluent Finnish" is just an excuse not to hire international workers," investigator Patricia Virsinger said. "Very often, level A2 or B1 would be enough to complete the job, compared to the original level, which is C2."
The report recommends that recruiters and employers re-evaluate this requirement and determine the language skills required for certain jobs, in particular in accordance with the YKI level of the Finnish National Language Proficiency Certificate.
Report: Identify foreign degrees and work experience
The report also suggested that the recognition and appreciation of foreign degrees and work experience in Finnish society should be increased.
"Our research shows that immigrants are often assumed to be unskilled or in need of training "Finnish way of working"," investigator Shannon Nichols said.
"The assumption that immigrants do not know how to work in Finland shows a discriminatory attitude towards immigrants and their studies or work experience outside Finland."
This is also reflected in immigrant pay packages. TEK found it "The median salary of non-Finnish citizens working in technology is lower than that of Finnish citizens. The median salary of Finnish citizens is 5040 euros, the median salary of EU citizens is 4440 euros and the median salary of non-EU citizens is 4000 euros".
TEK Research Manager Susanna Bairoh told the All Points North podcast that many foreigners earn lower wages than their Finnish counterparts. You can listen to the entire podcast using the embedded player here, via Yle Areena, Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or on your regular podcast player via RSS feed.
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The report also stated that many immigrants in Finland are unable to get a job in their own profession and have to change their career paths.
Nichols also commented on the bureaucratic hurdles of immigrants, with particular emphasis "laborious" residence permit process.
"Bureaucratic obstacles to the employment of non-EU nationals should be removed and the processing time of residence permits and visa entry requirements should be reduced," he said.
The full study is available at TEK website.
Source: The Nordic Page