The number of unemployed university graduates is higher than it has ever been in the 21st century.
Unemployment among master’s degree holders, engineers, and other highly educated professionals surged, particularly last autumn, according to a report from Akava, the labour federation representing university graduates and other highly skilled workers.
"The unemployment situation for highly educated individuals is grim," said Pasi Sorjonen, Chief Economist at Akava, formally known as the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland.
Even nurses, who once had strong job prospects, saw their situation decline. While that sector has long faced a labour shortage, there is now also a lack of job openings. Alongside nurses, unemployed social workers and physiotherapists are also seeking work in the social and healthcare sector.
The trend is even affecting highly educated engineers in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Once in high demand, with plentiful job opportunities, they are now facing rising unemployment due to large-scale redundancies in the industry.
The number of unemployed has generally grown significantly in Finland. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment reported last week that there were 321,700 unemployed individuals in December.
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Worse than Covid years
It is now harder than ever for recent graduates to find work across nearly all fields.
"The last time there were this few job openings was about 14 years ago," Sorjonen said.
Recent graduates are facing even greater difficulty finding jobs than during the Covid years, particularly in fields like languages, social services, social sciences and ICT. An increasing number of recent graduates are facing unemployment, especially those with degrees in those fields.
Unemployment drags on
The shortage of jobs is also reflected in the length of unemployment. Many people have been searching for work for over a year.
"For university graduates, the number of long-term jobseekers is approaching the peak levels of 2015–16," Sorjonen said.
Currently, there are about 17,000 university graduates who have been unemployed for over a year.
"It looks like this number will easily exceed that, possibly as early as January or February," he predicted.
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