Minister of Employment Satonen to visit Vietnam and the Philippines to promote recruitment of experts to Finland

Minister of Employment Arto Satonen will travel to Vietnam and the Philippines from 11 to 18 January 2025. The purpose of the visit is to create a cooperation model between Finland and the countries to promote international recruitment.

As per the Government Programme, Finland is focusing its international recruitment efforts on Vietnam, the Philippines, India and Brazil. The goal is to increase the recruitment of labour from these countries in accordance with employers’ needs. At the end of 2024, more than one quarter of all non-EU recruitment took place in the partner countries.

While India is already an established partner for Finland, more efforts are now directed at Vietnam and the Philippines.

“The Philippines and Vietnam are real experts in exporting talent. It is important that we are familiar with the local conditions and official processes for recruitment and that we know what kind of talent is available in these countries. In that way, we can improve our system to better consider the practices in the partner countries and support companies to ensure recruitment happens ethically and in the best possible way,” Minister of Employment Arto Satonen says.

The visit aims to establish local contacts and introduce forms of cooperation that support the recruitment of workforce for those sectors in Finland that suffer from labour shortages. The visit will promote the intergovernmental cooperation documents to strengthen ethically sustainable recruitment. Satonen will meet Prime Minister of Vietnam Phạm Minh Chính, among others.

Traditionally, the employees recruited from the Philippines have worked in the health and social services and the restaurant, service and industrial sectors in Finland. Meanwhile, Vietnamese employees have mostly been involved in primary production and the restaurant and service sectors. Efforts will be made to increase recruitment in these sectors as well as other sectors based on the needs of employers.

Cities recruit foreign talent and support their settling-in

“Finland and Helsinki would not succeed without international experts in different sectors. There is a fierce competition between cities around the world for the talent, and we must do our utmost to demonstrate our competitiveness as a place with many employment opportunities for building a good life. It is important to show that Helsinki offers experts recruited to work for the City a good and fair path from abroad to Finland. We provide the necessary support for work, language studies and settling in a new home,” says Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen.

Representatives from the City of Helsinki, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Work in Finland, the City of Tampere and the Finnish Immigration Service will participate in the trip. They will be accompanied by a large delegation of companies, educational institutions, employer organisations and chambers of commerce. 

Fair labour market is Finland’s strength

“Finland’s advantage in attracting talent is our fair labour market. In addition, quick and seamless permit processes, the balance between work and leisure time as well as our nature help Finland distinguish itself from the competition. During the trip, we will highlight these strengths and emphasise why Finland is the right place for foreign talent,” Satonen adds.

By streamlining international recruitment, Finland hopes to increase the proportion of people from the partner countries in labour migration as a whole and to make Finland both a good partner for the target countries and a good place for foreign talent. International recruitment must also be ethical and cost-effective in terms of public finances.

More information:
Veera Svahn, Special Adviser to the Minister of Employment, tel. +358 295 047 321 (questions to the Minister)
Sari Haavisto, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 154 (partnerships in international recruitment)
Teresa Salminen, Special Adviser to Mayor of Helsinki, tel. +358 40 865 6961 (questions to the Mayor)