Immigrants and their children form a large, ever-growing part of the combined population of Espoo, Helsinki and Vantaa. At the end of 2022, 250,000 people of foreign origin lived in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, four-fifths of whom were born abroad. The share of immigrants who are of working age has grown to over one fourth. Vantaa has the largest share of residents with a foreign background at 25 per cent. In Espoo, 22% of the population has a foreign background, and in Helsinki, the share was 19%.
The City Executive Office's new study, People with foreign backgrounds in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: housing, employment and income 2022, discusses the integration of immigrants in Espoo, Helsinki and Vantaa and the life situations of Finland-born people with a foreign background.
The study contains information on employment, income levels and housing conditions. It is a continuation of previous studies by the Helsinki City Executive Office on the subject.
Many industries and occupational groups depend on foreign labour
The number of workers with a foreign background in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area has grown significantly. The increase in the number of workers in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area during 2000–2022 consists almost entirely of people with a foreign background. In many occupational groups, the work of immigrants is invaluable: for example, they already account for two thirds of the cleaning sector’s employees.
The employment situation of immigrants in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is still, on average, worse than that of native residents. Their participation in the labour force is lower, their employment rate is lower and their unemployment rate is higher. Many of them work in low-skill jobs. In many areas, the women are in a worse situation than the men.
Positive developments especially in the employment of women
The lower income level of immigrants in Finland is reflected in their living conditions. There are also different expectations and cultural factors behind staying in Finland. Compared to the native population, significantly fewer people live in owner-occupied homes, and overcrowding is common, especially in families with children.
“However, we are seeing some diversification take place. There have been positive developments, especially in difficult-to-employ groups, and especially among women. Nowadays, many immigrants also work in specialist and expert positions, and many of them are also in, for example, health and social services and in the information and communications sector,” says Senior Researcher Pasi Saukkonen from the City of Helsinki.
Second-generation immigrant women in better position than men Young second-generation immigrants are, on average, in a worse position than their native peers from the perspective of education, employment and income. In both population groups, the situation of women
looks to be better than that of men in terms of education and employment. In 2022, one in three Finland-born men with a foreign background did not have a further qualification.
Immigrants in Finland are a heterogeneous group
The metropolitan area's immigrant population is increasingly diverse. In addition to background countries and language groups, there are immigrants who have come to Finland for very different reasons and with very different resources and expectations. It is therefore difficult to draw a general conclusion. However, before the last economic downturn, several indicators were showing overall positive developments.
