The number of summer jobs available this year in Finland has dropped compared to the year before.
According to the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK, the number of summer jobs has fallen across all sectors but especially in the private sector where the availability of summer jobs have fallen by 27%.
Traditionally, young people get summer jobs out of school or during university to cover positions where the main job holder takes extended summer vacations, or where there’s a seasonal need for more staff.
“It was foreseeable that fewer summer workers would be hired this summer, but this was a surprise drop. A large number of young people now miss their first contact with working life and gain valuable work experience” says Kirsi Rasinaho SAK’s education and employment policy expert.
More than a quarter of shop stewards who responded to the SAK survey said their workplace has had to cancel previously agreed summer positions because of the coronavirus pandemic - this has been fairly equal in both the public sector (33%) and in the private sector (31%).
However, Rasinaho says that young people should still be active if they want to find a summer job because some companies are only now firming up their summer hiring plans.
“For example in the service sectors companies can still make last minute recruitment decisions when restaurants, cafes and amusement parks open their doors in June” she advises.
