"Being unemployed or employed is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to feel valued and be part of society." : A study of unemployed and employed educated immigrant women in Finnish labor market

Abstract

In Finland there are many educated immigrant women without relevant jobs. Even though they are motivated to work in academic work tasks, yet after many years of persistent trying, they have not been given a job that would match their level of education. There are few studies on labor market integration of immigrant women in Finland, but most of the previous researches concern uneducated immigrant women and their integration processes. The purpose of this study is to find out whether educated immigrant women feel that their education and skills are valued in Finnish labor market, and whether they are offered equal job opportunities with native Finns. The research approach of this study is qualitative, and the data was collected true casual theme interviews. For the interviews were chosen eight educated immigrant women with totally different backgrounds. The research showed that immigrant women’s skills and education are not valued enough in Finnish labor market and they face unnecessary discrimination towards their identity. Too much emphasis is also placed on knowledge of the Finnish language, even the job itself would not demand the skill. Immigrant women feel the most important thing in working life is to get employers to value their education and competencies and get a job that corresponds their education and skills.