Downturn Hits Highly Educated Workers, Especially Women, Hard

Unemployment is worsening most sharply among highly educated Finns, even as the labor market begins to show expectations of improvement. Highly educated women are in the weakest position, according to a new unemployment review by Akava Works, the research unit of Finland’s Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff.

At the end of July, more than 10,000 more highly educated people were unemployed than during the previous high point a decade ago. Some of the increase reflects the fact that Finland now has more highly educated residents. The share of people aged 15 and older with at least a lower university degree rose from 20.8% at the end of 2016 to 26.4% at the end of 2025.

The rise in unemployment has not yet shown signs of slowing. Over the past two months, it has increased slightly faster among highly educated workers than it did in the spring. Long-term unemployment has also grown rapidly.

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Unemployment is growing at all education levels, but among those without higher education it has not yet reached a record level.

Women account for more unemployed highly educated workers than men, and the gap has widened over the past two years. Their situation differs from that of people with lower levels of education. About 3,000 more highly educated women are unemployed than a year ago, while the total number of unemployed women has risen by 14,000. Akava chief economist Pasi Sorjonen says the increase has come through several channels, with many affected women previously working in healthcare and care services. Both private and public healthcare providers have made substantial staff reductions.

By field of study, unemployment rose most among social-service graduates, whose numbers increased by 18% from a year earlier. The number of unemployed engineering graduates rose 17%, natural-science graduates 15% and business graduates 14.5%. Unemployment declined among early-childhood teachers and dentists, where the number of unemployed people had remained low. Overall, the number of unemployed highly educated workers rose 8.2% to 68,599, compared with a 7.5% increase among other unemployed jobseekers. The total number of unemployed people stood at 344,780.

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The increase in women’s unemployment comes from many different streams.