Unemployment among Finland's foreigners

Oksana Chuvjurova was laid off in early July. She now spends the greater part of her days job hunting from home.

Chuvjurova, 32, eyes the new messages in her inbox carefully. The Employment Office’s job watch service sends her an email every time it finds a potential employment match.

Chuvjurova says she applies for around five jobs daily, sometimes even more. Her days have settled into a rhythm of checking emails and writing applications.

“I know I will find something,” says Chuvjurova, who was furloughed until further notice in July from her job of 3.5 years at a logistics company.

A psychologist by training, Chuvjurova moved to Finland from Russia nine years ago. Today, in the middle of the recession, she says she is willing to take just about any job.

Chuvjurova isn't alone in her plight. At the end of June, the number of unemployed jobseekers totalled 275,800, up 67,500 from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. That said, the competition for jobs is becoming stiffer by the day.

Sluggish economy cuts jobs

Chuvjurova’s former employer, which services hauliers between Finland and Russia, was hard-hit by the recession.

“The number of trucks coming through our office plummeted. Traffic drastically declined from just one year ago,” says Chuvjurova.

Layoff talks began at Chuvjurova’s workplace as 2008 drew to a close, and by the beginning of February her working hours were halved.

“The worst part of the whole process was anticipating the day I would get laid off. It was an immense relief when I was finally let go. Working part-time was tough psychologically and financially stressful,” she says.

“Spending constantly occupies my mind”

Out of work, Chuvjurova has been forced to cut out small luxuries like trips to the movies and eating out. For Chuvjurova, learning to live on less has meant trimming grocery bills by scouting offers at the local supermarket and eating whatever is in season.

“I stopped planning vacations and make a lot more food at home,” says Chuvjurova, whose income now is the daily 25.63 euro unemployment allowance doled out by Kela, Finland’s Social Insurance Institution. “What’s left of the allowance after tax doesn’t even cover the rent.”

Chuvjurova says she and her fiancé are trying to eat healthily despite the financial squeeze. She points to some recent prizes from her parents’ small vegetable patch: a large zucchini, a few potatoes and some spring onions. “We’re not being back-to-basics fashionable. These staples help us get by.”

Chuvjurova says she's trying to remain optimistic, but she does have one regret.

“I wish I would have joined a union earlier,” says Chuvjurova, while cutting into a homemade apple cobbler.

YLE News/Zena Iovino