Why unemployment in Finland won't be fixed and what you can do anyway

I've been working on immigrant employment for years. We help 40+ people get jobs every month. The model works. I've shared it with MPs, ministries, and officials for years.

Nothing happens.

After years of this, I've started to understand why. And it's not one thing. It's everything.

The numbers don't lie#

According to Eurostat, Finland's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached 10.6% in November 2025 and it's the highest in the European Union, overtaking Spain at 10.4%.

"This situation is perverse - we're not used to seeing this," commented Elina Pylkkänen, Under-Secretary of State at Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Yle

Youth unemployment hit 22.5%, 6.3 percentage points higher than a year ago. Trading Economics In June, 23% of Finns under 25 were jobless, the fourth-highest rate in Europe. Yle

According to Statistics Finland, 3,906 companies were declared bankrupt in 2025. "Last year's bankruptcy number was the highest since 1996," said Mira Kuussaari, chief actuary at Statistics Finland. Xinhua

Bloomberg reported that bankruptcies in Finland reached the highest level in almost three decades, with construction companies driving the insolvencies.

The annual average of bankruptcies in the 2010s was around 2,700. Now it's 3,600+ per year. Around 14,300 employees worked for companies that went bankrupt in 2025. Xinhua

The employment rate of foreigners was 59.6% in late 2024. It's about 10 percentage points lower than native Finns. Unemployed foreign jobseekers increased 18% year-over-year. Finnish Government

No one is responsible#

I once asked an MP: who is the ultimate decision maker on employment policy in Finland?

The answer: "No one. It's a democracy."

That's the excuse. Because it's a democracy, no one person takes responsibility. Everyone can point at someone else. The ministry points at the government. The government points at the coalition. The coalition points at the voters.

And so nothing changes. Because changing things requires someone to own the decision. And ownership is risk. And risk is avoided.

Democracy as gridlock#

Right now Finns Party want to change how we bring in international students. There's a real problem.

According to Yle, volunteers at the Evangelical Free Church in Helsinki say between 600 and 700 people arrive every week for food distribution. More foreign students started lining up last fall. "It's a sign that many international students are struggling financially. Here, it's hundreds of students. Many other organisations are noticing the same phenomenon," lead pastor Markus Österlund told Yle.

Statistics from Kela show that more than €12 million in social assistance were paid to foreign-background students during the first eight months of 2025, matching last year's total. Nearly 40% of students receiving financial support speak a language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as their mother tongue. Yle

Yle's investigative unit MOT uncovered evidence that agents tell students they can easily find work and earn a living wage even without Finnish language skills. Sonja Jakobsson, the university chaplain of the Helsinki Parish Union, described the foreign students who join the food bank lines as "victims of international education recruitment" and says a new "poor underclass" has emerged in Finland as a result. Yle

We've vacuumed in people who end up in food lines, not tax payers.

But meaningful changes can't happen because other coalition parties either voted for the current system or ideologically believe Finland should provide free education to the whole world. Democracy becomes gridlock. Nothing moves.

The ambition problem#

Finnish companies are comfortable.

According to Päivi Puonti, forecasting director at the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA), "Monetary policy isn't always optimal for Finland." High interest rates have stalled sectors like construction. Yle

Bloomberg notes Finland has been Europe's worst performing economy since 2020, hurt by weak demand in Europe, sanctions against neighboring Russia, and rising unemployment.

People here are satisfied with very small things. Get the Oura ring. Get the Skoda. Get the summer cottage. And then the hunger stops. The ambition dies.

Why would you hire aggressively? Why would you expand? You have your cottage. You're fine.

So there are no jobs being created. Not because the economy is dead. But because ambition is dead.

AI gap is real#

Only 16% of Finnish workers use AI daily, according to a survey by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises. 26% reported no AI use at all. AI is mostly used by individuals in management roles and senior specialist positions. Complete AI Training

Meanwhile, Statistics Finland reports 38% of enterprises deployed AI technologies in spring 2025, up from 24% the previous year, one of the highest rates in Europe. Fairedih

But that's enterprises, not workers.

Research on public healthcare AI adoption found that all 46 identified challenges were rated at least somewhat significant. Organizational challenges emerged as the most critical: limited financial resources, insufficient AI competence, and inadequate change management. Emerald

Translation: the public sector, which should be leading AI adoption to keep workers relevant in the global economy, is blocked by bureaucracy, fear, and lack of skills.

Work is global now. You're not competing with the person in the next town. You're competing with someone in Vietnam, Poland, Brazil, anywhere.

If you can't use AI tools effectively, you will be unemployable. Not in 10 years. Now.

The entrepreneurship trap#

2025 was the worst year for business failures since the recession of the 1990s, according to Statistics Finland. The construction sector saw 768 firms file for insolvency, though nearly all other sectors showed a rising trend. Xinhua

Corporate financial distress intensified in 2025. Over 52,000 businesses now have payment defaults, a decade-high. Bankruptcy applications rose 12% in wholesale and retail trade and 21% in the accommodation and restaurant sector. Helsinki Times

YEL pension changes destroyed small businesses. The safety net for entrepreneurs is garbage.

How do you hire your first employee? It's terrifying. The costs are insane. The bureaucracy is worse.

The "solution" from the government? Grants. Which come with a mountain of paperwork and oversight from people who have never built anything.

Legitimate companies don't even apply. The ROI on the bureaucracy isn't worth it.

TE services are from the 90s#

If you're unemployed, the official advice is: send applications. Go to the TE office. Use the job board.

It's 2026 and the system still operates like it's 1995.

An estimated 16,000 people currently receiving social assistance will be reclassified as unemployed jobseekers next year due to changes in social security rules. Finnish Government The numbers will get worse before they get better, not because more people lost jobs, but because of bureaucratic reclassification.

Meanwhile, the actual way people get jobs now? Building skills. Building presence. Building something that shows what you can do.

No one in the public sector understands this. Or if they do, they're not allowed to teach it.

The actual path forward#

Here's the truth no one wants to say:

The Finnish government is not going to save you.

The IMF's recent assessment states: "Labor market reforms should be complemented by efforts to integrate foreign labor... Finnish firms face challenges in scaling up to compete internationally." International Monetary Fund

They know. They just don't act.

So what do you do?

You build skills that work globally.

There are jobs. There are so many possibilities to generate income. But it doesn't have to be a traditional job. It won't be a local company where you sit for 7.5 hours.

It might be remote work. Freelancing. Contract work. Building something yourself.

You need an edge. Something you're useful for. Something that makes companies want to pay you.

And when you have that, the whole world is your market. Not just Finland.

You'll get income. You'll get a future. You'll get out of the statistics.

But you have to do it yourself. Because no one here is coming to help you.