3,362 employees lose jobs in private sector last year

A total of 3,362 employees lost their jobs in private companies in Finland in the year 2018, according to Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK.

The number is slightly higher than the previous year, when 3,276 people were made redundant in the private sector. In 2016 the number of redundancies was 10,874.

Major redundancies took place last year at the IT technology company Nokia, 353 redundancies, Venator chemical industries, 253 redundancies, the restaurant chain Restamax, 200 redundancies, and wholesaler Tuko Logistics, 200 redundancies.

Venator Finland will close a whole titanium dioxide facility in Pori due to a major fire at the factory in January 2017. The factory has been working on a reduced capacity since then and will be closed down completely in 2021. The company claims that rebuilding the factory would be too expensive and production is to be moved elsewhere.

Tuko Logistics is a groceries assortment, purchasing and logistics service provider. It was once a major company but due to the changes in the grocery market it has lost big customers and the owners decided to close down the whole business.

There are signs of recovery in industry though as can be seen in the paper industry. In 2018 there were zero redundancies while in 2017 a total of 43 paper workers lost their job.

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK has been keeping track of the number of redundancies since 2007 and the figures for the year 2017 were lower than ever. And the latest figures show there has been little change in the course of a year.