Norway is plagued by a shortage of nurses, as is Finland. Norway attracts foreign nursing professionals to work with better wages and working conditions than in Finland.
In Norway, a nurse receives an average salary of 1,000–1,500 euros more than in Finland. In Finland, the average total salary of a nurse is around 3,300 euros, in Norway around 4,500–5,000 euros. Finnish nurses are in the pay hole compared to the Nordic countries.
The reason for the nursing shortage in Finland is not going abroad
Every year, a few hundred nurses leave Finland to work abroad, according to Statistics Finland, about 200 nurses. On the other hand, about 140 foreign nurses arrive in Finland. However, the numbers vary depending on the source.
In any case, there will be a shortage, because according to THL’s statistics, in 2020, about 1,200 of the Finnish nurses lived abroad, when municipalities’ workforce forecast (you switch to another service) according to the national level, more than 16,000 new nurses would already be needed.
– It is very unlikely that all the nurses working abroad would return to Finland and that would not solve the nursing shortage either, says Tehy’s labor policy expert Mervi Flinkman.
Norway is the second most popular destination country, only Sweden has more nurses going to work. Popular destination countries have also been Great Britain, the United States, Switzerland and Germany, and since the 2010s, Estonia and Spain. Young adults are the most eager to change nurses.
It is estimated that the root causes of the shortage of nurses are elsewhere than the move abroad.
– They are salary, working conditions, that there are enough workers and management, Tehy’s coordinating chief shop steward Esa Rusanen From the welfare area of Lapland says.
The biggest threat in the industry is seen as the fact that young people will not enter the industry and that those who left the industry will not return to nursing work.
In addition to better pay and working conditions, there can also be other reasons to go abroad to work, reminds Mervi Flinkman.
– In addition to those, there may be individual reasons, such as the desire to improve language skills, advance in a career or gain new experiences.
Esa Rusanen does not see it as a problem that the nurse goes to see the culture and way of working elsewhere.
– It can bring something good here for us as well, Rusanen thinks.
The nurse who moved to Norway does not even consider returning
A nurse from Finland who lives in Kirkkoniemi in northern Norway Pasi Toivanen says he can manage with his salary, even though the cost of living in Norway is higher than in Finland.
He has not experienced exhaustion and haste, except during the corona period.
– The pandemic period was a special time. Then I experienced fatigue and a feeling of inadequacy, but not to the point that I would have considered quitting nursing.
There are no endless overtime workers. Today’s young people in Finland have expectations and demands regarding the rest of their lives as well.
Esa Rusanen, Tehy’s coordinating chief steward
Toivanen moved to work in Kirkkoniemi in 1998, when he immediately got a permanent position. In addition, he preferred to live in a small town in the north rather than move to Helsinki or the capital region.
– I think that society’s decision-makers should thank themselves for this situation, that they have not woken up in time. This has hardly come as a surprise, says nurse Pasi Toivanen.
Now Toivanen has at least partially become Norwegian and life has taken shape in Kirkkoniemi. He can’t imagine moving back to Finland to work in the nursing field.
– That train left a long time ago.
He feels that in Norway the employer is put off if they get an employee. On the other hand, in Finland, the employee felt that he was lucky if he got a job.
Commuting, i.e. work trips, and housing are paid for
The nurse does not have to move to Norway, because you can go to work there from home Finland. The employer pays for travel and housing for the duration of the work break. Gig work and part-time work are possible. Working hours can be negotiated flexibly.
A nurse commutes from Rovaniemi to Kirkkoniemi Tiina as Pikkuhooka, which presses work in Norway for two to three weeks. Then it’s a couple of weeks off. He drives 550 kilometers to work in his own car and receives mileage allowances. The flights would also be paid for, but it would take more time and make a detour through Helsinki and Oslo.
– I prefer to drive from Rovaniemi to Kirkkoniemi by car, depending on the weather, the trip takes about 6.5 to 11 hours. I am currently working 60 percent of the time, says Tiina Pikkuhookana.
In Norway, Pikkuhookana’s salary is twice as much as in Finland, but that is not the only reason to leave.
– Going to work in Norway also enables part-time working hours, and that is good in terms of coping. It’s easy to go to Kirkkoniemi from Rovaniemi, and you can do short breaks of a couple of weeks, says Tiina Pikkuhookana.
Money alone is not enough
Chief shop steward Esa Rusanen remembers Lapland’s remote area allowances, which used to tie workers to the locality. Similar ones have been used even today, at least on the private side.
– Has been attracted with various recruitment bonuses and additional raises. And overtime is enticed by quite high compensations. Salla seems to have been on the private side, when twenty thousand euros were promised, and with that they were committed to the town for several years.
However, according to Rusanen, you cannot bear the constant overtime load, even if you get a good financial compensation for it.
– You can’t find endless overtime workers. Today’s young people in Finland have expectations and demands regarding the rest of their lives as well. They are not dedicated to working 24/7 and constantly ready to come to work and constantly flexible. That when you come to work in the morning, you can’t know if you’ll get off work at three or what time, Rusanen states.