One of the members of the new government, the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, said that jobs will be created for Finnish labor. In the present anti-immigration environment in Finland, such statements have a hostile ring to migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities since they don’t promote inclusion and fair hiring practices.
Considering that migrant unemployment is three-times higher than the national average, do you think that such statements, which stress “us” and “then,” improve the chances of such people getting hired?
Why can’t politicians like PS chairman Timo Soini, who likes to make nationalistic statements, drop the adjective “Finnish” and state that the efforts by the new government and policy will create new jobs?
Certainly that phrase sounds more inclusive than “Finnish labor.”
It’s pretty clear what Soini means by Finnish labor, or suomalainen työ, which is code for “don’t hire migrants and minorities. It’s your patriotic duty as an employer to hire white Finns.”
It would be great if at least one journalist could ask Soini if he considers migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities to be “Finnish labor.”
* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.
