Supervision of the use of foreign labour revealed bogus self-employment and the vulnerable position of students

Shortcomings in pay, record of working hours and the right to work

Last year, the occupational safety and health authority carried out over 1,800 inspections of the use of foreign labour. The inspections supervised the right of foreign workers to work in Finland and the fulfilment of the minimum terms of employment. In about one in ten inspections, a worker was found who did not have a permit to perform the work in question in Finland.

Shortcomings in pay were discovered in nearly 40% of the inspections that supervised the minimum terms of employment. The shortcomings ranged from a single unpaid evening pay supplement to situations where the worker had not been paid at all. In most cases, the occupational safety and health authority obligates the employer to correct the shortcomings found in pay. In more serious cases, the occupational safety and health authority also submits a report to the police.

More than one in two inspections revealed shortcomings in working hours documents. The correctness of pay could not always be supervised if there had not been any record of working hours or the hours actually worked by the worker had not been shown.

Based on observations made in the supervision of the use of foreign labour, the occupational safety and health authority made 10 reports to the police of work-related exploitation. The offences were extortion and extortion-like work discrimination.

Students vulnerable to work-related exploitation

The number of students coming to Finland from third countries has increased significantly in recent years, according to the European Migration Network's statistical publications ‘Key Figures on Immigration’. According to supervision findings, many students lack the financial resources to live in Finland and they have very inadequate knowledge of the rules of working life in Finland. This puts many students in a vulnerable position on the labour market.

Employer obligations were circumvented in different ways

As in recent years, situations were found in supervision where the employer and the worker had agreed on unpaid on-the-job training, in which the worker worked unpaid in return for a promise of being hired by the company after the training period. In addition, many cases were found where there was a suspicion that employment had been masked as self-employment in an attempt to circumvent statutory payments payable by the employer.

The supervision also encountered situations where a company registered in another EU country had declared that its workers were posted workers, although in fact the company only operated in Finland. By doing so, employers sought to circumvent, among other things, their obligation to insure employees. The phenomenon is also known from other EU countries.

Exchange of information helps focus supervision on high-risk targets

The occupational safety and health authority targets supervision on a risk basis, where it makes use of its extensive right of access to information. Tips received from other authorities, third sector operators and citizens are also important in directing supervision. A large number of inspections on the use of foreign labour are carried out without prior notice

In 2025, the most supervised sectors were hospitality, construction, seasonal work and industry. The next most supervised sectors were trade, transport, beauty care, cleaning, temporary staffing, and car washes and car repair shops. More than 90% of the inspections on the use of foreign labour were targeted at these sectors.

Read more in the report (in Finnish): Ulkomaisen työvoiman käytön valvonta vuonna 2025 (pdf).

The English and Swedish versions of the report will be published later.