Germans, Indians comprise biggest groups

The 10 biggest occupational groups of employed persons with German and Indian background included several professional groups in 2016, according to Statistics Finland.

Forty-three per cent of those with German background and 40 per cent of those with Indian background worked as professionals. In absolute numbers, most professionals with foreign background were of Russian background, 5,100 persons.

The number of employed persons with foreign background was 133,000 in 2016. The number of employed persons with foreign background grew by 32,000 from 2011 to 2016, and their share of all employed persons was around six per cent, up by 1.6 percentage points.

For employed persons with foreign background, the most common background country was Russia or the former Soviet Union, around 30,500 (up by 3,200 or 12 per cent from 2011). The next biggest background countries based on the number of employed persons were Estonia (24,200, up by 7,800, 48%), former Yugoslavia (4,200, up by 900, 26%), China (4,000, up by 900, 30%) and Vietnam (3,900, up by 1,400, 55%).

Examined by background country, foreign persons worked in numbers most as office cleaners (11,800 persons, up by 41% compared with 2011). Other typical occupational groups for persons with foreign background were house builders (5,000, up by 80%), shop sales assistants (4,600, up by 15%), cooks (2,900, up by 50%), and social work assistants (2,700, up by 39%).

Common occupational groups for several background countries were, for example, practical nurses, other healthcare workers and home helpers, as well as freight handlers and warehouse workers.

Professionals with foreign background worked as software and applications developers and analysts, university and higher education teachers, medical doctors and engineering professionals.

The occupational group of managers was among the 10 most common occupational groups, for example, for those with Turkish and Indian background (classification of occupations, 3-digit level). Those with Turkish background worked as hotel and restaurant managers and those with Indian background as information and communications technology service managers.

A majority of office cleaners and house builders with foreign background were of Estonian origin, while the most common background country for shop sales assistants was Russia (including former Soviet Union) and the most common background country for restaurant services supervisors and shift managers was Turkey.

Seventy-six per cent of restaurant services supervisors and shift managers of foreign background and some 20 per cent of house builders were entrepreneurs.

Among medical doctors of foreign origin, some 40 per cent were of Russian origin or from the area of the former Soviet Union. Nearly 50 per cent of building frame and related trades workers with foreign background were of Estonian background.

In relative terms, there were more persons with foreign background than with Finnish background as craft and related trades workers, service and sales workers and under the section elementary occupations of the classification of occupations. In addition to cleaners, freight handlers, hospital and institutional helpers, kitchen helpers and paper deliverers, messengers, etc. are included in elementary occupations.