Helsinki (07.05.2004) A recently published new study* by researcher Arja Haapakorpi focuses on the employment prospects of young university educated Russian and Estonian immigrants in Finland. The summary of the study gives an idea of the difficulties facing even academically qualified immigrants in the Finnish labour market
Summary
Helsinki (07.05.2004 – Arja Haapakorpi) The study examined the employment history, education and future orientation of young immigrants and of immigrants with university degrees. While the careers of immigrant university graduates were often unstable, one third secured professional employment. Although their professional status was usually inferior in Finland compared to the country of origin, a small group of immigrants had been more successful in the Finnish labour market. This finding reflects the collapse of the Soviet Union labour market, which forced graduate professionals to take casual employment. Most immigrants in Finland are from the former USSR.
Ethno-specific niches in the labour market and sectors with labour shortages have provided opportunities for immigrants to take up professional positions. In ethno-specific niches membership of a certain ethnic group contributes to professional activities. However, an appropriate educational background is a condition of securing employment in ethno-specific niches and in sectors with a labour shortage. The most common examples of ethno-specific professional work occur in the educational sector. Labour market segments with labour shortages provided immigrants with professional employment.
The career patterns of graduate immigrants correspond to their cultural proximity to the host population, to the immigration stage, and to the motive for immigration. The labour market status of Estonian immigrants is higher than that of Russian immigrants. The careers of graduate Russian immigrants comprise temporary work, unemployment and labour market training, while Estonian immigrants have better prospects of professional career advancement, even though their employment is not always permanent. Estonian immigrants who arrive in Finland as adolescents enjoy greater success due to their grasp of the Finnish language and culture. A Finnish university degree also provides them with appropriate formal competence. Knowledge of the Finnish language is not, however, a necessary requirement for professional positions in international companies.
The labour market orientation of Russian and Estonian immigrants is to some extent similar to the mainstream in Finland, but tends to take shape in relation to their special status as immigrants. Immigrant opportunities are limited compared to those of the host population. Russian immigrants in particular assume that their prospects of securing professional positions are poor, and this forces them to lower their employment standards and to focus on sectors with a labour shortage.
The conceptions of Russian immigrants concerning education and the significance of a professional degree are based on the practice in their country of origin. This distorts their understanding of the labour market and of their role within it. They find it difficult to understand the principles of education. Education in the Soviet Union and Russia was controlled, collectively organised and teacher-centred, and Russian immigrants have difficulty in grasping the principle of individual focus and the voluntary character of the Finnish educational system.
Russian immigrants consider university degrees and the formal recognition of their qualifications in Finland to be of no significance in relation to employment. This perception is based on experiences in the country of origin. In the first place, and in contrast with the Soviet system, the relationship between university degrees and employment varies in Finland. Secondly, university graduates may have difficulty in securing employment in Finland, in contrast to the labour market advantage that higher education provided in the country of origin. There is also an attitude that it is useless to secure formal recognition of competencies in Finland. A university degree, however, as a formal indicator of competence, is important to the employer, as employers have no other way to oversee the competence of jobseekers. It is difficult to evaluate foreign university degrees as indicators of competence, which means that such qualifications introduce risk factors in professional recruitment. Degree equivalence improves the value of a foreign diploma to an employer.
The study method was both quantitative and qualitative. The study data comprised registration data on highly educated immigrant jobseekers compiled by Helsinki Employment Office, interviews of Russian and Estonian young people and graduate immigrants, and interviews of trainers, teachers and counsellors.
*Arja Haapakorpi, Kulttuurista rajankäyntiä – nuorten ja korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien koulutus- ja työmarkkinahistoria ja –orientaatio [Cultural demarcation – the educational and labour market history and orientation of young immigrants with higher education], University of Helsinki, Palmenia-kustannus, 132 pages, 2004