Unemployment among foreigners has decreased during the year in the area of ​​the South Häme employment area

In the South Häme employment area (EHTA) area, the number of unemployed foreign job seekers has decreased by five percent during the year: there were 339 in July 2025 and 356 in July 2024. In Finland as a whole, the number of unemployed foreign job seekers has increased by 9,5 percent during this period.

The South Häme employment area covers Riihimäki, Janakkala, Hausjärvi and Loppi. In July, there were 283 unemployed foreign job seekers in Riihimäki, 56 in Janakkala, 18 in Hausjärvi and 18 in Loppi. In Hausjärvi, there were as many as 25 percent fewer unemployed foreign job seekers in July and in Riihimäki eight percent fewer than a year earlier. There are several reasons for the positive employment development of foreigners, at least in Riihimäki:

– The city of Riihimäki has been investing in Finnish language teaching for a couple of years now, because language skills open many doors. In addition, the city has intensified cooperation with companies, which lowers the threshold for companies to recruit foreigners. The TE reform has also improved the quality of personal service, says Integration Manager Juha Hiltunen from the South Häme employment area.

According to Integration Manager Hiltunen, between July 2025 and July 2024, net immigration has also increased in Riihimäki by 374 people, in Hausjärvi by 12 people, in Janakkala by 26 people and in Loppi by 24 people. At the same time, in the South Häme employment area, the share of foreign unemployed job seekers in the foreign workforce has decreased by 6,4 percent during the year: it was 2025 percent at the end of July 31,1 and 2024 percent at the end of July 37,5.

Unemployment among foreigners has been decreasing since June

A positive turn in the unemployment figures for foreigners in the South Häme employment area took place already in June: in June 2025, there were 324 unemployed foreign job seekers, which is 15 people, or four percent, fewer than in June 2024.

– Statistics show that from June to July, the number of unemployed foreigners in the South Häme area has increased by five percent. However, we must remember that there is a large seasonal variation in the number of unemployed people during the year, and therefore we are more interested in how the employment situation has changed compared to the employment situation a year ago, says Employment Director Pekka Voutilainen from the South Häme employment area.

The number of unemployed job seekers continued to grow in July

When looking at the number of all unemployed job seekers, it increased by 450, or 17 percent, between July 2025 and July 2024 in the South Häme employment area. There are now a total of 3 132 unemployed job seekers in Riihimäki, Janakkala, Loppi and Hausjärvi. In Finland as a whole, the number of unemployed job seekers increased by 11 percent during the year.

According to Employment Director Voutilainen, simply comparing the level of open unemployment with the situation from the previous year gives a darker impression of employment development than reality:

– The growth in open unemployment is mainly influenced by weak labour demand, but it is also influenced by the fact that the number of customers in services has decreased compared to the previous year due to the TE reform. Therefore, this year's and last year's statistics are not fully comparable in that sense, says Employment Director Voutilainen.

In the South Häme employment area, there were a total of 25 unemployed job seekers under the age of 418 in July this year. This is 35 percent more than in July 2024. In July this year, there were 979 people who had been unemployed for more than a year, which is 36 percent more than a year ago. 103 new job vacancies were published during July, which is 26 percent fewer than in July 2024.

This information is available in the employment review published by the KEHA Centre and the ELY Centre.