Services, construction sectors face skilled labour crisis

The availability of skilled labour was the main obstacle to production and sales growth in services and construction, according to the Business Tendency Survey carried out by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) in July.

Finnish companies estimated that the business cycle has remained moderate during the summer in all the main sectors. Production and sales grew early in the year, as did the labour force, said a press release issued by EK on Wednesday.

The survey found that 29% of service companies and 43% of construction companies had difficulties recruiting labour.

Although manufacturing is also suffering from low labour availability, in manufacturing production growth is hampered most by insufficient demand.

“In many cases, the growth of companies is stalling because of low labour availability. In addition to companies, labour is also needed from the perspective of Finnish public finances. The government objective of a 75% employment rate currently requires 72,000 more employed people compared with the present situation. The employment objective combined with a weakening business cycle is a difficult equation to solve. This is why every possible measure should be employed quickly. It’s best to take action while the going is good,” said Sami Pakarinen, Chief Economic Policy Advisor at the Confederation of Finnish Industries.

The Business Tendency Survey is published four times a year by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK).

In July 2019, the Confederation of Finnish Industries asked businesses to evaluate their business outlook for the second quarter of 2019. 1,076 companies employing over 250,000 people in Finland responded to the survey.