Labor shortage threat to Nordic health, economy
At Helsinki's University Hospital, a tenth of the 6,000 job places are unfilled, some wards are closed and the situation is worsening by the month. But a shortage of labour does not merely threaten people's health in the Finnish capital. It is also a menace to economic health across the Nordic region as builders and engineering firms also struggle to find enough employees. Finland, with Europe's fastest-ageing population and a shrinking labour force, faces the heaviest burden. "We have to limit the type of services we provide and queues are getting much longer," Hanna Aschan, Director of Nursing Management at University Hospital, said.
Finland's neighbours are also hungry for skilled workers, and the shortfall is keeping them from producing at full speed. Unemployment in the Nordics has been falling since the mid-1990s and in 2007 hit 15-year lows, leaving vacancies unfilled and an imbalance between labor supply and demand.
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