Unemployment skyrockets among Finland’s highly skilled graduates

Unemployment of highly skilled graduates is growing rapidly in Finland, with the number of unemployed graduate students increasing by 36 per cent in 2012.

At present 60 per cent of all 25-29-years-old newly graduated students in Finland are unemployed, according to Akava, the Finnish trade union for professionals.

Akava has criticised the Employment and Economic Development Office (TE) in Finland for not doing enough to provide a functioning labour market for highly skilled people. Ida Mielityinen, a policy analyst at Akava, puts the cause of the rising unemployment down to a lack of policy emphasis on the creation of professional jobs.