Background

Finland is a Western welfare state which has been receiving an increasing amount of migrants since the early 1990s and the number is steadily growing. Situated up in the north and having two national languages, Finnish and Swedish, which are not widely spoken around the globe, Finland faces challenges when competing with other nations in the globalised labour market. Language is one such challenge. Particularly in the health care sector, which is the focus here, internationally educated professionals may find it more practical and appealing to look for jobs in English-speaking countries in which their prior language knowledge is valuable and sufficient. Also, migrants studying in international nursing programmes in Finland tend to consider English-speaking countries the most attractive option for employment, because they perceive it as too challenging to quickly develop sufficient Finnish language skills (see Virtanen 2013). This language barrier confronts anyone planning to enter the Finnish labour market and thus acts as an effective pre-selection mechanism in recruitment processes.

At the same time, over the last twenty years, Finland has been attracting numerous international health care professionals, and more than 600 medical professionals educated abroad become licensed to work in Finland each year (Ministry of Education and Culture 2014). Despite the language barrier, the good reputation of the Nordic model of organising and managing health care, as well as that of the Finnish social security system, education system and general living conditions have been noted as adequate reasons to migrate (Magnussen et al. 2009). Finland is also known as a high-tech society which provides smooth access to up-to- date medical equipment, creditable working time legislation and progressive, research-oriented working practices appreciated by many international specialists perhaps lacking the corresponding resources in their countries of origin (Haukilahti et al. 2012; see also Stilwell et al. 2004: 595–7). This chapter addresses the significance of language in international recruitment and work-related migration processes of health care professionals from an ecological perspective. ‘Ecology’ refers here to the deep interrelatedness between an individual and the surrounding social and physical environment in which he or she lives and acts (van Lier 2000).