Social, healthcare sectors suffer most to recruit workers

Last year, 40% of employers looking for workforce experienced recruitment problems, and despite the coronavirus crisis, the level of such problems was the third highest ever recorded in Finland, according to an analysis by the government.

The analysis by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment published on Wednesday showed that social and healthcare sectors suffered from recruitment problems the most, with 54% of employers searching for workforce in that sector experiencing difficulties, said the ministry in a press release.

In all sectors, 19% of employers experienced labour shortage, i.e. their need for suitable workforce could not be met at all or it could be met only in part. This figure was unchanged from 2019. In all, a total of 58,000 positions remained unfilled.

Recruitment problems decreased in all sectors except public services and education. The impact of the coronavirus crisis is most obvious in the accommodation and food and beverage services sectors, where the number of employers experiencing recruitment problems decreased by 13 percentage points from 2019.

Deficiencies related to skills were the most frequently cited reasons for recruitment problems, while reasons related to the workplace came in second. In 2020, reasons related to the workplace were less common in the private sector than in other sectors.

In more than half of all recruitment cases in the private sector, the reason for recruitment was a new vacancy.

However, employers in the municipal sector mostly recruited workers to replace those leaving. More than half of vacancies were filled by workers moving from another job and 19% by unemployed jobseekers.

In order to find workforce, employers most commonly notified their staff of recruitment needs or recruited workers through the TE Office. The TE Office was used by 44% of employers. The importance of social media as a means for finding labour increased again.

About 16% of employers reported last year that they had plans to recruit more staff over the next 12 months, while 11% said they planned to reduce the number of employees.

The analysis is based on employer interviews conducted by Statistics Finland for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment since 1993.

“Many sectors need more workforce right now. According to the employers interviewed for the report, deficiencies in skills is the most common reason for not finding suitable workforce. Developing skills is therefore a key issue that we must focus on in order to solve the labour market mismatch and improve employment,” said Elina Pylkkänen, Permanent Under-Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.