Skip to Content

The share of women among the foreign unemployed is rising slightly

Publication date 24.3.2026 8.53 | Published in English on 8.4.2026 at 17.13
Type:News item

The number of men among the foreign unemployed decreased by 1.9% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the share of women increased by 3.0%. The number of unemployed jobseekers increased in February 2026 compared to the previous year. The increase was significantly more moderate among foreign unemployed jobseekers (0.5%) than among Finnish unemployed jobseekers (7.7%).

According to the Employment Bulletin based on the data from February 2026: 

  • In February, there number of foreign unemployed jobseekers was 50,142, which is 14.4% of all unemployed jobseekers. The number of foreign unemployed jobseekers increased by 0.5% (246 people) from the previous year.
    • The growth in the number of foreign unemployed jobseekers slowed down significantly towards the end of 2025. In February 2026, the number of foreign unemployed jobseekers increased significantly more moderately (0.5%) than the number of Finnish unemployed jobseekers (7.7%) when compared to the previous year. The share of foreigners among all unemployed jobseekers has also decreased since late 2025.
    • The number of men among the foreign unemployed decreased by 1.9% compared to the previous year, while the number of women among the foreign unemployed rose by 3.0%.
    • In the long term, the increased number of the foreign unemployed is explained by the increased amount of foreign labour force in Finland. In the shorter term (2023–2025), the increased number of the foreign unemployed is explained by the economic downturn.
  • According to the Labour Force Survey, foreigners had an employment rate of 56.8% and an unemployment rate of 19.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The economic downturn continues to affect the employment rate of foreign citizens, which decreased slightly from the previous quarter. The unemployment rate of foreigners decreased slightly when compared to the previous quarter. 

The KEHA Centre publishes a monthly review on the employment of foreign citizens and their participation in services. The monthly review is largely based on the register data of the Employment Service Statistics of the KEHA Centre. The review data is compiled from a monitoring carried out with the Power BI application.

February 2026 review on the unemployment of foreign citizens and foreign-language speakers and their participation in services

Further information: Employment Bulletins

 
Ajankohtaista
Back to news