Three Years

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As of today, I've been in Helsinki for three years which is something of a milestone since a good percentage of expats, those who don't come to Finland with a fixed-term contract job, leave between the one and three year mark. There have been plenty of times where I desperately wished that Jarkko might have been from some warm, sunny and tropical Caribbean island, but I keep chanting my motivational motto to myself, "That which does not kill you, builds character."

Aside from baking more than the average Helsinki woman has in the last 40 years, leading my colleagues to believe that I'm crazy, and still being rather inept at speaking a language that causes even Finns to admit to having problems understanding their own people from other parts of the country, I have more or less found my niche. In the immortal words of Buckaroo Bonzai, "Wherever you go, there you are."

As a foreigner, I've noticed a dramatic increase in the past 12 months of articles covering the topic of immigration since it is an important issue in the current presidential election. The US has debates about Iraq and shifty foreigners and Finland has shifty foreigners and NATO. At least Finland isn't building a 700-mile long wall along the Russian border. I wish I understood what, exactly, the point of all the polls and superficially phrased questionnaires aimed at Finns and their attitudes towards immigration might be. Then again, I don't think the Finns know, either. Back in June, I noted this gem in the YLE news:

The group is concerned about the aging population and an impending labour shortage in the future.

However, the working group stressed that foreign workers should not take job opportunities from Finland's unemployed.

A statement that seems empty and inaccurate when you read the IMF report:

Wide-ranging measures are also called for to ease growing labor market mismatches and reduce structural unemployment. The sharp rise in vacancies in the recent upswing along with persistent high unemployment suggests a mismatching of skills and opportunities, as well as limited labor mobility between regions and occupations. The authorities' efforts to "price in" labor through subsidies for lower-skilled older workers are welcome if they are well targeted. As important, the temporary active labor market programs can help promote employment opportunities for underutilized segments of the labor force. In addition to these efforts, other supporting structural measures would be essential to achieve the authorities' ambitious goal of a 70 percent employment rate by early 2007.

And then you read bits that suggest that out of the 8,000 people in the net population gain last year from immigration that a large majority are returning expat Finns, many of whom are retirement age. I'm not entirely sure how repatriating citizens get lumped in with immigrants either.

The increased number of immigrants indicated by the statistics can be explained by the migration of Finns themselves. Some 40 percent of incoming migrants are Finnish citizens, and a major proportion of them are found in the group of the over 55-year-old migrants. No way will they be fit to serve as manicurists or masseurs in the next couple of decades.

I generally get really irritated when I see articles like these every week since it's known that the population isn't going to be able support the baby boom retirees in the way that they have become accustomed and, yet, these same people are the ones trying to quell immigration by stipulating that immigrants will not be competing on the same field for jobs as Finns. Given the time it takes for immigrants to settle in and learn the language(s) in Finland, roughly 2-5 years, and that the mass retirement phase of the boomers has already begun, it would seem too little and too late to allay the fears of those who are going to be very upset that the quality and quantity of social benefits are poised to decline. Who cares about a manicure when you might die waiting for basic medical care?

The riots in France had a predictable effect on the EU since everyone wants to know if the same could happen in their country. The Helsingin Sanomat Poll seems to indicate that at least half of the population thinks it could happen here and, at the same time, roughly 75% think that there is either enough or too many immigrants already in Finland. I suppose that Finland, given its attitude towards outsiders, is smart to keep the borders mostly closed since why invite people in if they are likely to face serious problems in integrating and living a normal life. France opened the borders but didn't appear to notice that large numbers of unemployed people living outside of the native society can breed serious unrest. It could happen here given the right circumstances. One person with nothing to lose is a danger to themselves. Thousands of people with nothing to lose is an army in search of an ideology.

I find these sorts of polls and articles to be a bit half-baked since random statistics don't tell you much nor do they serve much of a purpose save perhaps to assuage the fears of the geriatrics who are terrified of foreigners taking over their country and the young hipsters who hope that Finland might someday cease being an isolated backwater in Western Siberia. In the end, it doesn't tell us anything except that not much will change for foreigners and immigration, at least not terribly soon. The politician who speaks plainly about what fewer workers and more pensioners will mean over the next 10-20 years should prepare those retiring for the inevitable since it's likely far too late to change their firmly held attitudes.

The curious thing is that, aside from the nasty old grannies and the occasional asshole, I haven't felt any overt signs that I'm not welcome here. The worst I have to endure is usually annoyance after people figure out I'm not from around these latitudes. I work in one of the more 'integrated' Finnish (i.e. non-international) companies that boasts at least 6 non-native people in our 150+ person organisation. My colleagues even seem to like me, at least when I'm not threatening to slip them under the tiled floor in the lab. :) So, it's hard to reconcile the poll result that 75% of Finland doesn't want any more foreigners to enter Finland and what I personally experience daily.

My guess is that immigrant means something very specific to many people instead of the broader meaning of anyone who comes to live permanently in a country not their own. Of course, since the turnover amongst expats (which generally implies education, choice and means) in Finland seems rather high, they are perhaps not included. I'd really be interested in seeing the retention rate figures for educated westerners and Europeans who come with the intention of staying here, but leave after a few years. What the polls should be asking is what does immigrant mean. Russian? Somali with 10 kids? Damned Yankee? What? What makes this 75% think that there are enough or too many here? What makes them think riots couldn't happen here when there is a generation of Finnish born and educated children of Somali immigrants who reportedly have a difficult time finding a job?

I'd like to see a lot more numbers for patterns of immigration since, at least among the educated westerners here, there seems to be a lot of turnover and should Finland finally decide that they'd like educated foreigners to stick around instead of the Russian bedpan changers for the pensioners that they crack jokes about, someone should be asking why they leave and be receptive to the answers they receive. Presumably,the Directorate of Immigration officials keep track of foreigners and their justification for being here as well as if they are employed or not, etc. I'd also find a survey that asked why people aren't interested in more immigration far more interesting than the ones that have been published so far which don't tell me anything more than I already sensed on my own.

Finland can be an incredibly tough nut to crack, especially if you don't arrive here as a student, because it is a land filled with contradictions. I remember seeing Vieralla Maalla, a Finnish comedy, in the first year that I had been living here. The film was about a Finnish guy who dresses up as a black guy to research racism and somehow falls in love with a Finnish for Foreigners instructor while narrowly escaping getting beat up by drunk guys and harassed by the cops. It was a cute movie, but then I started to wonder how the parts that skimmed the surface of serious issues facing immigrants, especially those who are not white, could really be so amusing even with the distraction of boy meets girl. People often say that racism is limited and that it's just a few bad apples but then you see it in a mainstream comedy film and you wonder which has more truth to it.

I'm not an economist and therefore have no sure opinion on whether or not Finland needs immigrants, but it seems safe enough to draw the conclusion that the math indicates that without an influx of people to work and pay taxes, expectations for social services should be lowered since raising income tax isn't likely to be a viable option. How many Finns would change their opinion about foreigners and immigration if they are shown financial projections for the next 5, 10, 20 and 30 years? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that in a population ~5 million people, that isn't growing very quickly, the estimated 600,000 more pensioners and 300,000 fewer tax payers by 2030 should be shocking enough to get a lot more considered attention.