Foreign companies increase their business and job creation in Finland

Foreign capital and foreign investment, especially in the sectors of industry, trade and services, continue to generate more and more business and employment in Finland.

The turnover of the foreign enterprises located in Finland was 92.2 billion euros in 2017. This was 9% more than the previous year, and 22.4% of the total turnover of all enterprises operating in Finland, according to the last figures about foreign affiliates published by Statistics Finland.

The industry of manufacturing was the most significant in terms of both the number of personnel and turnover. Most turnover was generated by Swedish, German, American, Swiss and Danish enterprises. Swedish enterprises are accounted for 22.1% of the turnover of foreign enterprises located in Finland, according to the Finnish statistical office.

Source: Statistics Finland

Foreign enterprises employed 254,980 persons in 2017, a number which is “slightly more than the year before”, according to the description made by Statistics Finland. Significant is the fact that the turnover and the volume of employment increases in 2017 while the total number of foreign companies in the country decreased slightly, to 4.308.

Share of the total employment

Foreign enterprises employ 17.5% of the total personnel of enterprises operating in the country. The share also “increased slightly from the year before”, as said by Statistics Finland. In the same sense, the share of turnover “went up slightly to 22.4% of the turnover of enterprises operating in Finland”.

However, the shares of those business results vary considerably by industry. In the main industries, the shares of turnover may vary from 8% to 42%.

Relative to the total enterprise stock, foreign enterprises in Finland employing most people and generating most turnover represent the industry of mining and quarrying and information and communication.

The picture is slightly different if we look at the number of personnel and turnover instead of the shares. Measured in this way, the most significant industries are manufacturing, and wholesale trade and retail trade. Manufacturing employed 73,090 persons (29% of employees in foreign enterprises) and its turnover was 31 billion euros. Wholesale and retail trade employed 47,120 persons and its turnover amounted to 31 billion euros.

The nationality of an enterprise is recorded based on the institutional unit that controls it. Usually this is an enterprise located abroad that owns over 50 per cent of the enterprise, either directly or indirectly.

Swedish enterprises clearly own the largest share of the affiliates located in Finland. Swedish enterprises also employ most among the foreign affiliates, 83,740 persons in 2017, which was slightly fewer than in the year before. Also measured by turnover, Swedish enterprises are most significant with 20 billion euros. The growth by three per cent was very moderate compared with the previous year.