allowance countries earnings education employment erasmus european family finland finnguide finnish following health helsinki housing income information insurance international internet language local market months national office pension pensions period permit phone residence service services student students swedish travel university working

Finland is on an economic upswing after the recession of 1990-1992. Membership in the European Union (Finland was the first Nordic nation to join the Euro monetary system), a booming timber industry, and success in the information technology industry have helped the nation's economy grow faster than the European average for the past five years. In recent decades, Finland has overhauled and transformed its economy from agriculture to high tech, with mobile telephone market dominator Nokia as a marquee employer.

Nonetheless, one quarter of the workforce in Finland is employed by the industry and construction sectors. Finland also remains an important player in the timber industry, with companies such as Finnforest developing innovative building methods with wood and wood based products. Of the specific industry sectors, the metals and electronics industries have the largest employment numbers.

In the Finnish finance sector, the international MBA and the MSc in Economics are valued qualifications. Becoming a certified auditor requires a university degree. In addition to industry expertise, employers require knowledge of Finnish or Swedish, since a wide range of legislation has to be understood as part of many accounting jobs.

Talouselämä (only in Finnish) is the most widely read business weekly in the Nordic countries, giving good insight to the Finnish economic scene. Once a year, Talouselämä publishes Finns in Business, a special issue in English profiling the 500 largest companies in Finland.

Johtoporras (Top Management) (Finland, Russia, Estonia)
The eight annual issues of the Johtoporras magazine deal with business management. The journal has an estimated 190,000 readers. The website is exclusively in Finnish. Finland has a large number of well-educated workers, most of whom are multilingual, largely as a result of its policy of free education – even through university and beyond, for all its citizens. The education system is widely recognized as among the best in the world. Finland has made the development of a well-educated, multilingual, motivated work force a national priority.

Finland is experiencing continued economic growth after recovering from the worst recession in its history in the early 1990s. But Finland is taking its success cautiously. The recession, coupled with a faster-than-average rate of inflation, left Finns feeling hesitant about getting too comfortable with prosperity. There are also projections of a coming labor shortage in Finland, primarily due to the fact that the post World War II generation is on the verge of retirement age.

Useful addresses:

The Federation of Finnish Financial Services
The Federation of Finnish Financial Services represents and promotes the interests of the banking industry in Finland. The website provides information about the banking industry and financial markets and lists many useful links. The site is available in Finnish, Swedish, and English.

Kauppalehti (Business News)
Kauppalehti is the largest Finnish daily business and financial newspaper. Additionally, Kauppalehti's website offers free online business and financial services which can be accessed after completing registration. The online information package contains a variety of financial services such as extracts from the latest Kauppalehti newspaper, share prices, and currency exchange rates. This site is available in Finnish, with some parts also in English.