# Why is Finland the "sick man" of Europe when it has such a well-educated workforce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 5, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016 "2016-03-05T17:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/21 "2016-03-06T20:07:29Z")
Sounds great, whats the problem? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/22 "2016-03-06T21:33:42Z")
In re: the title, a well-educated workforce don’t mean dick vis a vis the economy. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/23 "2016-03-07T06:53:37Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Let’s see… Finland has the highest state spending in the Euro Zone, a very expensive labor force due to unionization (75% of all Finns are in union jobs), has generous social programs and strong ‘automatic stabilizers’ like generous unemployment and welfare benefits. It has the least amount of income inequality in the OECD. It now has a permanent ‘stimulus’ as government continues to borrow more money to stimulate demand. All education is free in Finland, including college. Finland as instituted energy taxes to combat global warming. > > So, I’m sure the headline must be wrong. Finland must be a huge economic success, because it has done pretty much every single thing progressives say will lead to rapid economic growth. It’s basically a test lab for Bernie Sanders’ economic policies. And we all know that such policies are the reality-based solution to economic hardship. So Finland is doing great! It has had rapid economic growth, that’s how the expensive labor force came to be. Its problems now are the problems of a small economy’s vulnerability to reduced exports and downturns in core industries/companies. And even if those weren’t the facts, there’s also how a country with 5.5 million people can’t be a test lab for the effects of similar economic policies applied to one with 50 times as many. The diversity, resilience and internal activity is an order of magnitude larger. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/24 "2016-03-07T07:10:43Z")
“Well educated” does not mean “highly employable” if (a) everyone else is also educated to the same standard, and (b) there aren’t enough jobs to go around. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/25 "2016-03-07T07:49:35Z")
Also people have finally realized Angry Birds is a very simple game. Nevertheless, there is still some hope pinned on Angry Birds: Electric Boogaloo Vs Batman in Space ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/26 "2016-03-07T11:34:05Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > “Well educated” does not mean “highly employable” if (a) everyone else is also educated to the same standard, and (b) there aren’t enough jobs to go around. I was about to make a similar point. The education levels of a population does not always correlate to employment prospects, or an economy in general. The Soviet Union had a relatively well educated workforce. By the late 1980’s it was barely functioning as an economy. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/27 "2016-03-07T17:28:03Z")
> [@naita](#): > > It has had rapid economic growth, that’s how the expensive labor force came to be. Its problems now are the problems of a small economy’s vulnerability to reduced exports and downturns in core industries/companies. Plus I think it speaks well of their system that you’ve got a pretty small economy with two major industries in serious contraction, and that’s just lost much of its access to its by far largest trading partner, but you’re only reading about it in the back of the business pages instead of sprawled out on the front as some huge economic meltdown. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/28 "2016-03-07T18:33:17Z")
Labor market inflexibility makes structural unemployment high and makes it much slower to recover from external shocks. The horrible decisions to join the Euro has hurt just about every nation but Finland has been harder hit then other similar countries because the work force is so unionized. ---
**Author:** ![Civilrighte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@Civilrighte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civilrighte)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016/29 "2016-03-08T04:46:12Z")
They arent the worst country in the EU. Several Eastern European countries are far worse off. Spain and Italy aren’t doing too well, certainly worse than Finland. Then what about Ukraine, Greece or Portugal? They are in a right mess! I would say that Finland’s just been out competed and out innovated. Their core industries are no longer needed by anyone and Russia’s economy is important to them. They re also quite small. It’s like a small city with a large rural population… you’ll find more talent somewhere like Berlin than in all of Finland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-finland-the-sick-man-of-europe-when-it-has-such-a-well-educated-workforce/748016.md?page=1)