Study: Language courses and integration training are key to labor market access

According to a new study from the University of Jyväskylä, integration measures help immigrants enter the labor market, and anonymous recruitment supports hiring. Regular job-seeker interviews, organized periodically by employment services, showed no employment impact.

The research focused on immigrants’ position in the labor market and the broader labor market effects of immigration.

“Integration measures, and especially language training, are an important part of settling in Finland and gaining access to work,” says researcher Sanni Kiviholma.

When examining the effect of regular job-seeker interviews on unemployed immigrants, Kiviholma found that they were more likely to leave the labor force entirely as the frequency of interviews increased. No positive employment effect was observed.

Anonymous recruitment can support hiring

Kiviholma also studied an experiment by the City of Helsinki in which some recruitments were carried out anonymously. The aim of anonymous recruitment is to reduce potential discrimination in hiring by removing all personal details from applications.

“The research shows that anonymous recruitment had a positive effect on the hiring of applicants with foreign-sounding names. These postings also attracted more applications, particularly from women. However, anonymization had no effect on women’s actual hiring prospects,” Kiviholma notes.

The study underlines that anonymization only works if it is mandatory for recruiters.

“If recruiters can choose to apply it, those who already do not discriminate are the ones most likely to use it. In such cases, anonymization can even have the opposite effect on minority hiring.”

Easing restrictions added foreign workers – but mostly those already in Finland

Another part of Kiviholma’s research examined the effects of exemptions from Finland’s labor availability test. Using data from regional ELY Centres and Statistics Finland, she found that removing the test increased the number of foreign workers in shortage occupations.

“The majority of these workers were already in Finland and simply changed their residence permit. The impact on new immigration was small,” Kiviholma explains.

“The effects were strongest in the lowest wage quartile, among older employees, and in service sectors. At the top of the wage distribution, positive employment effects were observed,” she adds.

Reference: Kiviholma, S. (2025), Essays on Immigrants and the Labor Market, University of Jyväskylä, JYU Dissertations 969.