Supply and demand of labour force in Finland : Challenges in terms of achieving ”full employment” in all parts of the country

The ageing of population and labour force has been common in Finland and in Europe. The ageing of population structure is essentially affected by the strong decrease in fertility. Immediately after World War II fertility in Finland rose to an exceptional peak, producing the post-war ”baby-boom generation”. Since then, fertility has again decreased and as a consequence the elderly population has more that doubled in numbers over the past 40 years. Finland is a predecessor in population ageing in Europe and with Japan in the world (Karjalainen 1993; Parkkinen 2001)