ISSUE 38 (70) • 3 – 9 OCTOBER 2008 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.

FI

DOMESTIC BUSINESS TRAVEL SPORT

Nimby: Finnish green Rovaniemi: Honka ready
localism or technology Magic of the to challenge
elitism? upstarts north Inter
page 3 page 10 pages 12-14 page 15

Domestic
economy needs
foreign workforce
DAV I D J . C O R D
HEL SINKI TIMES

FINLAND has a top-heavy popula-

tion. Over the next five years about
375,000 Finns will reach retirement
age but only 325,000 youngsters
will reach working age. The only
way Finnish companies can replace
these 50,000 pensioners is by hiring
foreigners.
It is not a new problem. Several
years ago elder statesman Max Ja-
kobson called on the government to
proactively recruit people to move
to Finland. Even now with the econ-
omy slowing, the scarcity of labour
is seen as a bottleneck to growth.
Luckily many of these retiring
Finns are being replaced by immi-
grants. Statistics Finland announced
that Finland had 13,600 net immi-
grants last year and hopes for at least
10,000 more each year in the future.
With 10,000 net retirements a
year and 10,000 net immigrants, a
casual glance would think that the
problem is solved. Unfortunately
not all immigrants enter the work
force. A portion of them stay at
home to raise families or study in-
stead of working. Although the cur-
rent level of immigration helps with
the labour problem, Finland actually
needs even more foreign workers.
Last month the Confederation of
Finnish Industries EK said they ex- their language classes, improving
pected the unemployment rate to fall their vocabulary and enjoying their

Using the newspaper in

to 5.9 per cent next year as companies classes with the essence of the news
struggle to find employees. The Bank present in the classroom.
of Finland has similar worries: last And if you want to recycle the ma-
month it announced that the employ- terial, make a hat or a boat out of the

adult language training

ment rate would climb to 70.8 per cent
in 2010 from 68.9 per cent in 2006.
Foreign workers are therefore
playing an important role. The de-
mand for migrants to replace retiring
Finns is high now and is only expect-
ed to increase. Over time growing
Finnish companies do not only need
to replace retirees; they also need
more labour for their expansion.
Immigrants are also bringing
other advantages to companies. The
largest Finnish companies have the
vast majority of their sales originate
from abroad, and a foreign work-
force helps cultivate the modern and
cosmopolitan reputation of these in-
ternational firms.
LEARN modernly, the Learnwell
way, by using the Helsinki Times
newspaper in all of your English
classes. As the first English lan-
guage newspaper established itself
in Finland, Learnwell also saw the
possibility of changing the teach-
ing methods of business English to
companies.
English lessons in companies
have been modernised to include a
personal weekly copy of the news-
paper for each student. This bonus
material is part of Learnwell Oy’s
teaching material in addition to the
regular material used in adult lan-
guage training courses. The news-
paper gives an array of discussion
topics, vocabulary to go through,
questions to ask and even grammar
exercises based on the articles.
There is no need to work with out-
dated books as the newspaper it-
self already provides an example of a
modern language, with dynamic, in-
formative and up to date information.
This gives a content of current events
and business related topics to the
course. The teacher adjusts the dis-
cussion topics towards students’ own
interests, and throughout the course
the participants have the advantage
of a direct link to what is happening in
the student’s own area of expertise.
Learnwell offers the newspaper
with every English course, both for
private tuition as well as for groups.
Well over 100 students are al-
ready bringing their newspapers to
pages you already covered in class!
Learnwell Oy, a Helsinki-based
company, approaches teaching from
a dynamic standpoint and strives to
make the learning experience fun,
unique and fully adaptable to the
needs of each student. A free as-
sessment test and a free trial lesson
is available, and classes range from
improving language and communi-
cations skills to specialised courses
tailor-made for different professions
(logistics, HR, meetings, presenta-
tions, financial/legal English etc.).
Visit www.thelanguagemenu.com
to book your trial lesson. You can walk
away with a smile and a little extra
knowledge without spending a cent!

Mentioning this voucher entitles 10% off

all Learnwell courses in English.
Offer valid until Halloween, 31.10.2008
For more information on language training and translations contact us
at office@thelanguagemenu.com or visit www.thelanguagemenu.com