Finland has 43,000 job openings, more than half hard to fill

The number of open job vacancies in Finland decreased in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Even so, it remains high in some sectors where employers cannot find enough workforce.

According to Statistics Finland's statistics on open job vacancies, on the first day of September there were 43,000 open positions, while the figure was 48,500 one year before. That represents a drop of almost 11.5 percentage points.

In all, 31,200 or 72% of the job vacancies were in establishments owned by private enterprises, while one year earlier the corresponding share was 81%.

The number of open job vacancies decreased year-on-year particularly in the region of Helsinki-Uusimaa (-4,200 positions) and in establishments with at least 10 employees.

Source: Statistics Finland.

Construction and trade

Examined by industry, data show that job vacancies decreased most in the industry groups of construction, trade, transportation and storage, and accommodation and food service activities.

Growth was seen in the industry group of public administration, education and human health and social work activities, where the majority of jobs were in human health and social work activities.

In the third quarter of the year, 30% of all open job vacancies were fixed-term positions, while one year earlier the corresponding share was 23%.

The share of part-time jobs in all open job vacancies was 23%, which is five percentage points more than in the same quarter one year ago.

Hard to fill

Employers estimated that 23,300 (or 54%) of the open job vacancies were hard-to-fill, while the corresponding share one year earlier was 32,300 (or 67%).

For example, establishments in human health and social work activities still had plenty of jobs considered hard to fill.

Statistics Finland has been collecting data on open job vacancies quarterly since 2002. The inquiry is directed to persons responsible for recruitment in private or public sector establishments.

The survey is answered with either a web questionnaire or a telephone interview. The data collection includes approximately 2,500 different establishments in every quarter.