Finland’s emergency responder training institute warns of graduate unemployment if intake increases

The number of students training to become emergency responders in Finland has doubled in recent years, but budget cuts by regional welfare authorities now risk leaving many newly qualified professionals without jobs, reports national broadcaster Yle.

Finland’s Emergency Services Academy currently admits 240 students annually to its emergency responder program—twice the number from just two years ago. However, academy rector Mervi Parviainen warns that welfare regions, which oversee emergency services, lack the funding to hire all graduates.

“There is demand for responders, but the financial resources simply aren’t there,” Parviainen said, noting that hiring is particularly constrained in eastern and northern Finland compared to the south and west.

A new report by the academy projects that welfare regions will need around 2,000 new responders by 2032. Yet if planned increases in student intake proceed—rising to 264 places in 2027 and 288 later—the institution will produce roughly 150 more graduates than the system can absorb.

“It feels like we’ve misled these young men and women by telling them to train for jobs that won’t exist,” Parviainen admitted. The academy has formally proposed to the Ministry of the Interior that intake numbers be frozen at current levels.

Jari Koivuluoma, chair of the Finnish Emergency Services Professionals’ Union (SPAL), criticized the situation as unsustainable. “These cuts won’t save welfare regions, but they will erode emergency response capacity,” he said, warning that unemployed responders’ skills would deteriorate without regular practice.

Graduating students Joel Reiniö and Tuomo Rajasaari have secured temporary summer positions but face uncertainty afterward. “Summer hiring is easier, but winter graduates struggle,” Reiniö noted, while Rajasaari may return to his former construction job if no permanent role emerges in his preferred region, North Ostrobothnia.

The Ministry of the Interior has circulated the academy’s proposal for comment, with current plans still set to expand intake from 2027.