Immigrants’ skills are underused in Europe – strict language requirements a particular feature in Finland
Photo by Victor Aldabalde on Unsplash
New studies by the European Migration Network (EMN) and the OECD throw light on barriers to immigrants’ employment: high language proficiency requirements and discrimination in the labour market make it difficult for immigrants to find jobs that match their skills.
The European Migration Network (EMN) and the OECD have published an extensive joint report on the labour market position of immigrants and barriers to their employment in Europe (EMN study:Fostering a sustainable labour market integration). The national report published at the same time by EMN Finland (Immigrants’ employment in roles matching their skills and barriers to employment) reveals that, while Finland ranks in the middle of EU countries when it comes to immigrants’ employment in jobs that do not match their skills, international experts come across plenty of language-related and structural obstacles on their way to roles that match their competence in this country.
Both publications show that the human capital of plenty of third-country citizens is wasted. The fact that highly educated third-country citizens end up in low- or medium-skilled jobs is a loss both for the individuals and national economies.
International comparison: Finland ranks in the middle in immigrants’ employment in jobs that do not match their skills – the language gap is deep, however
In a European comparison, the mismatch between immigrants’ education levels and jobs is the greatest in southern Europe, including Italy, Spain and Greece. In these countries, more than half of educated third-country nationals work in jobs that are below their skills level. Finland ranks in the middle of EU countries in these statistics. Finland stands out positively in the sense that the self-assessed difference between immigrants and the native population is relatively narrow in this country.
Language is a significant challenge to immigrants’ employment in the Nordic countries. The EMN-OECD study indicates that, in the Nordic countries, the overeducation rate of immigrants with intermediate language proficiency is more than twice the rate of those with advanced language proficiency. This difference is much more significant than in Belgium or the Netherlands, for example. The report supports the idea that the local language is a type of labour market gatekeeper in the Nordic countries.
“Due to insufficient language proficiency, some immigrants end up in jobs that do not match their skills but in which good Finnish skills are also not needed,” says Samuli Volanen, Senior Specialist in the European Migration Network. “As a basic premise, immigrants finding any jobs at all has been considered a positive in Finland, even if this involved temporary placement in a field that does not match the person’s level of education. If prolonged, however, this may make it more difficult for highly educated persons to access expert roles, for example,” says Volanen.
Finland’s special features: High requirement levels and structural discrimination undermine labour market integration
The national report highlights challenges typical of the Finnish labour market. Language proficiency is a barrier in two ways: excellent Finnish skills may be required in workplaces even when this is not necessary for the actual job, and the inadequate English proficiency of employers has also been seen as an obstacle to hiring immigrants.
In addition, structural discrimination has a wide-ranging impact on immigrants’ opportunities in the labour market. Previous studies have shown that significant recruitment discrimination occurs in Finland. In surveys, immigrants themselves have also reported that discrimination has hampered their possibilities of finding jobs.
The so-called hidden labour market is another significant obstacle. The extent of the networks a person has affects their knowledge of the labour market. Due to their lack of networks, international experts may not hear about hidden vacancies in the same way as their Finnish counterparts. The report found that networking and career advancement may be hampered by the local workplace culture, especially if the person does not have Finnish language skills.
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