Brussels is monitoring with growing concern how the construction labour shortage threatens Europe's economic and social sustainability. The problem is also deepening in Finland, but the logic of solving it is increasingly being determined by decision-making at the EU level. The outlook for the construction sector in Finland and the EU is now interconnected in a way that is not yet fully understood in the domestic debate.
The demographic structure alone speaks volumes: fewer children are being born in Finland each year than during the famine years of the 1800th century. At the same time, baby boomers are retiring, some even before the official retirement age. The shrinking working-age population is no longer a prediction, but a reality that is hitting labor-intensive sectors such as construction particularly hard.
Demographic trends and skills shortages are making it more difficult to find solutions at the EU level
Digitalization only increases the need for skills. The domestic education system alone cannot meet demand, and the problem does not only affect Finland. In the EU, the construction sector is seen as a cornerstone of the sustainability and habitability of the entire society. Climate goals, energy efficiency requirements and growing cities require large-scale new construction and renovation, and the availability of labor is the basis for these conditions.
According to the European Commission, there are currently 42 occupational groups in the EU where there is a significant shortage of skilled workers; construction is at the top of the list. The Commission estimates that by 2035, more than four million workers will leave the EU construction sector. There are not enough new skilled workers on the horizon to even halve this deficit. Many traditional countries of origin for the workforce, such as Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries, are themselves suffering from population decline and youth migration.
This is why the EU has taken action. The new Immigration and Asylum Agreement, adopted in 2024, will enter into force in the summer of 2026. The package will reform not only asylum processes but also the rules of the game for labour migration and border control. The aim is to standardise procedures, enhance worker mobility and facilitate the transfer of skills from one country to another. At the same time, the EU's Skills Union strategy and the Union of Skills initiative aim to speed up the recognition of skills, develop education systems and attract third-country talent to the EU labour market.
Finland's line is tightening – and distancing itself from the EU's direction
The direction in Brussels is therefore clear: without an international workforce, Europe will not achieve its climate, population or economic policy goals. That is why many are watching with confusion how some of the Finnish government's current actions are going in the completely opposite direction.
In the spring of 2025, the government announced that it would tighten labor-related immigration, including by tightening residence permit conditions, extending the required work history, and setting higher language proficiency requirements. At the same time, the availability of seasonal workers will be weakened by the decision to eliminate the accelerated permit procedure in agriculture and construction. The authorities' resource cuts have already caused delays in recruitment processes, frustrating construction sites across the country.
Furthermore, the rhetoric, in which foreign labor is mainly treated as a risk to social security or public order, does not attract skilled workers to Finland. Several embassies and recruitment channels openly state that Finland's attractiveness has weakened in recent months. Competition for skilled workers is Europe-wide, and Finland cannot be lulled into an imagined attractiveness.
The need for construction industry experts surges after the economic crisis
In recent years, construction in Finland has been experiencing an exceptionally deep recession, and both domestic and foreign workers have left the sector. The proportions of these have remained more or less unchanged: in the Helsinki metropolitan area, almost 40 percent of workers on building construction sites are of foreign origin. In the entire country, the proportion of foreign workers is on average about one fifth.
According to the Finnish Construction Industry Federation (RT), residential construction starts will remain below 20 this year, while the long-term need is almost double. Companies' turnover has been falling and the number of personnel has decreased. Many construction sites have laid off or made redundant. At the same time, certain tasks requiring specialized skills continue to suffer from a chronic labor shortage. With the onset of an upswing, a significant need for skilled workers is quickly approaching.
The equation is unsustainable – and solutions are increasingly needed at the international level. It is not about cheap labor or just workers, but increasingly also technologically oriented professionals with experience in, for example, BIM modeling, drone operations or energy-efficient system design.
It's not about control, it's about direction.
Contrary to what is often claimed, it is not just a matter of “managing labour migration”. It is being managed – at EU level, with common conditions and systems. But if Finland places additional barriers to skilled workers who could fill acute needs in the construction sector, the result will simply be that these people will go elsewhere. To Germany, Ireland, Spain. Not because they necessarily want to go there, but because they can get jobs there.
What is crucial for Finland's future is how we position ourselves as part of European construction and labor policy. It is not enough to appeal to birth rates or education. Both are needed. In addition, we need a coherent, long-term and internationally compatible immigration policy. That does not mean open borders, but open eyes: an understanding that without foreign labor, the construction industry in Finland will not survive.
This is self-evident in Brussels. Is it the same in Helsinki?
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About the author
Mika Horelli is a freelance journalist who has lived in Brussels for eight years and closely follows the political processes of the European Union and their impact on Finland. He also writes for RT on EU topics that are central to the construction industry. Horelli has previously worked as a freelance journalist in Denmark and the United States.
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