Bioeconomy employs 11% of labour force in Finland

Last year, sectors in the bioeconomy employed 308,800 people, which was 11 per cent of the total labour force in Finland, according to the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

The number of people employed in the bioeconomy, however, decreased by 5,900 from the previous year.

Still at the beginning of the 2010s, the bioeconomy employed 348,200 people.

Agriculture continues to provide the largest number of jobs in the bioeconomy, totalling 63,200 people employed.

According to preliminary data, the value added of the bioeconomy was EUR 29.3 billion in 2023, down by three per cent from the previous year measured at current prices.

The bioeconomy accounted for 12 per cent of the value added of the national economy in Finland.

“The output of the bioeconomy was EUR 86.1 billion, which was 16 per cent of the national economy’s total output, and down by seven per cent from the previous year’s output measured at current prices”, said Tiina Sauvula-Seppälä, Senior Statistician of Luke.

The forest sector accounted for a third, or EUR 9.5 billion, of the value added of the bioeconomy. The value added decreased by nine per cent from the previous year. The forest sector has remained the foundation of the bioeconomy, regardless of increased raw material and energy costs, as well as decreased exports.

A fifth of all people employed in the bioeconomy, or 61,000 people, work in the forest sector, showing an increase of 900 people from the previous year. The number of people employed increased in the forestry, as well as the pulp and paper industry, while it decreased in the wood-products industry.

The value added of the food sector, mainly consisting of agriculture and the food industry, was EUR 5.1 billion, and its output was EUR 19.7 billion. The sector accounted for 17 per cent of the total value added of the bioeconomy and 23 per cent of its output. Both figures have increased slightly in recent years, driven by growth in the food industry.

A third of all people employed in the bioeconomy, or 104,500 people, work in the food sector.

“Agriculture remained the largest employer in the bioeconomy, even though the number of people employed in agriculture has decreased by 23,000 from the beginning of the 2010s. In no other sector of the bioeconomy has the number of people employed decreased as significantly”, Sauvula-Seppälä said.

Bioeconomy services, mainly nature tourism and recreational use, have continued their growth after the coronavirus pandemic. The output of bioeconomy services increased to EUR 4.7 billion, and value added totalled EUR 2.1 billion. The percentage of value added of the total value added of the bioeconomy increased by one percentage point to seven per cent.

Bioeconomy services employed 40,000 people, up by 10,000 in slightly more than ten years. In the bioeconomy, services have seen largest growth in terms of employment.