The Finnish job market is in crisis, and the summer hiring season is about to become a battleground. Imagine competing against 43 other people for a single job—that’s the harsh reality many jobseekers faced last year, and this summer promises to be even tougher. With unemployment rates at a 15-year high, employers are bracing for an unprecedented flood of applications, leaving countless hopefuls in a desperate scramble for work. But here’s where it gets even more intense: positions are being snatched up faster than ever, often before application deadlines even close.
Take Espoo’s cemetery, for instance. While the ground remains frozen under a thick layer of snow, supervisor Sirpa Lehtinen is already knee-deep in summer job applications. “We started receiving them on the very first working day of the year,” she told Yle News. Last year, Espoo’s parishes received a staggering 1,200 applications for summer jobs, with nearly 800 coming from minors. This year, only 20 positions are available for 16–17-year-olds, and 50 for those 18 and older. With so many underage applicants and little work experience to differentiate them, job interviews are decided by lottery—a stark reminder of how fierce the competition has become.
And this is the part most people miss: it’s not just cemeteries or local parishes feeling the heat. Staffing giant Barona, for example, received a mind-boggling 43,000 applications for just 1,000 seasonal roles last summer—a 25% increase from the previous year. This summer, they expect to hire over a thousand workers again, but demand is set to dwarf supply once more. Is this a sign of a broken system, or simply the harsh reality of a struggling economy?
Retail, a traditional summer job haven, is no exception. The S Group plans to hire around 17,000 young people nationwide, while rival K Group will employ 5,000 seasonal workers across grocery stores, hardware outlets, and logistics centers. Even Lidl is posting 855 summer positions. But speed is the name of the game—positions are filling up faster than ever, leaving latecomers with slim chances.
Anu Päivinen, a regional manager at Barona, offers a glimmer of hope: “It’s not as hopeless as it seems. Jobs will continue to open up throughout the spring—last year, we were still hiring in May.” Yet, for many, this reassurance may feel like cold comfort in a market where the odds are stacked so heavily against them.
But here’s the controversial question: Are lotteries and first-come, first-served hiring practices fair in such a competitive market? Some argue they’re necessary given the lack of experience among young applicants, while others see them as arbitrary and demoralizing. What do you think? Is this the best way to handle the summer job crisis, or is there a better solution? Let’s debate this in the comments—your voice matters!
