Since the coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish) crisis erupted, the Government of Finland has been forced to impose serious restrictions on the movement of people and to certain activities.
With spring already here, Finnish farms are now facing a severe labor shortage for spring and summer that threatens the supply of basic food products at dinner tables in Finnish households.
Agrarian organizations estimated a week ago at 10,000 the number of foreign people needed to ensure the harvesting of crops. The list of vacancies includes jobs as strawberry picker, tractor driver and greenhouse worker, among other.
Two official websites
Agricultural companies have already started to announce daily their vacancies on two official websites. In both, the worker can consult the offers and apply directly from the employers, normally without interposed agencies.
The first one of them was created by The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) and provides a list of jobs that the applicant can search for example by location. Some of the positions are advertised also in English.
The second option is the portal of the public Employment services (TE-office or TE-palvelut in Finnish), where many agricultural vacancies are currently announced.
In this case, the website is in Finnish and Swedish. The agrarian companies recommend to start the search by typing kausityö2020.
Quarantine required
The Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Employment service offices have recently launched a campaign in order to attract to seasonal jobs not only immigrants. Also young people, students, laid-off workers and the unemployed are wanted. Every pair of hands available is needed.
However, Government also decided that people arriving in the country under the special conditions derived from the Covid-19 epidemic must remain in quarantine for 14 days.
The employers will be responsible for arranging transportation from their point of entry to the quarantine locations.
More information about seasonal work in Finland during the epidemic can be found HERE.
