“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin (1924-87) In Finland, we read a lot of studies about racism and discrimination. One recent article by Raster gives a comprehensive view of the issues fueling migrant discrimination and unemployment. Who can forget researcher Akhlaq Ahmad’s study in 2019 showed…
Tag: migrant unemployment
Esperi Care reveals a wider problem: Lack of effective regulation and political will
What does scandal surrounding Esperi Care tell us about problems plaguing private elderly homes in Finland and how regulators don’t their jobs? This, I believe, is not a problem that just faces the nursing home sector, but the whole of Finnish society.
Asylum seeker Ibrahim has applied to hundreds of jobs in Finland without luck
Most of our perceptions of visible migrants and minorities are erroneous and an outright lie. Remember when Perussuomalaiset* party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, labelled all refugees in 2015, including countries like Syria, as economic migrants and welfare shoppers?
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Foreigner, jobless and excluded from the job market despite fluency in Finnish language
How well must I speak Finnish in order to land a job? That question, even if it hounds many of us, is a very topical question that leads us to other ones that expose the culprit of discrimination. Like most matters in Finland that deal with discrimination and racism, the burden of proof falls on the…
Finnish PS speaker of parliament blames migrants for high unemployment
Anti-immigration party Perussuomalaiset (PS)* speaker of parliament, Maria Lohela, states in an interview in Helsingin Sanomat that the jobless rate among some migrant groups is many times higher than the national average. True. But the question the reporter should ask Lohela is “why” and “what she’s doing to change the situation” instead of parroting her views.
Two important questions I’d ask incoming PS minister of justice and employment
It should be clear by know through countless examples that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* intentionally make outrageous statements in order to get media attention for the party and themselves. The new PS justice and employment minister, Jari Lindström, stated a while back that he’d be in favor of reinstating the death penalty in “some circumstances,” according to YLE in English. On Tuesday we learned about PS subsitute councilman Olli Sademies’ opinions about forced sterilization of African refugees.
Finland is not a land of opportunity but a land of poverty for most migrants
According to Statistics Finland’s Working Paper series, Finland is no land of opportunity for migrants, writes Pekka Myrskylä. The Statistics Finland’s development manager claims that the employment level of Estonians and Thai citizens matches that of ethnic Finns. The majority of migrants live in poverty in Finland, according to him. If what Myrskyä writes…
European Network Against Racism report highlights Finland’s racism and discrimination challenges
Shadow reports on racism in Europe by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) reveals something we’ve not known and written about on Migrant Tales for a long time. Apart from racism and discrimination happening in employment, the question behind the question is why is this still an issue? Why are governments still doing too little?…
Migrant high unemployment in Finland is a good way to measure discrimination and social exclusion
Apart from Jim Crow laws and centuries of discrimination, one of the many social issues that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s addressed was high unemployment among blacks. In a country like Finland, which sees work as a crucial pathway to inclusion and acceptance, it’s clear that unemployment is an effective…