Finns worried about increased amount of illegal workforce from Estonia

Marge Tubalkain-Trell

Downturn of Estonian economy and higher rate of unemployment has made Finns worry about Estonians coming to work there more massively, delfi.ee mediates Helsingin Sanomat.

Due to Estonians’ larger wish to go working in Finland, there is a scare of increased offers of illegal work. Eve Kyntäjä, manager of Finnish labour point in Tallinn is convinced that illegal labour force in Finland does exist.

She said there is currently no clear picture of how many Estonian workers there currently are in Finland. The city of Helsinki estimated their number to be at around 10 000 to 20 000.

The number of job seekers has at least tripled, estimates Veli-Pekka Holopainen, CEO of Eila Kaisla.
“For example, there would be dozens of cleaners. The only problems are language skills and no dwelling place. It’s surprising teachers and nurses, highly educated people want to be a cleaner,” said Holopainen.
Labour mediating companies see some good sides in the higher rate of unemployment. In addition to their number, people are generally more skilled than before.

“When there was a large deficit of work force, unskilled people were unfortunately hired, since the job had to be done. Now employers may choose, when there are more applicants than the usual one or two,” said Väino Tälli, manager of Varamiespalvelu Estonia.