Integration of Russian Immigrants into Finnish Labour Market & Society: Are We Still Afraid of Russians?

The study describes the integration attempts of Russian immigrants to the Finnish labour market and to the Finnish society. The aim is to describe and examine the immigration and integration as a process, investigating the possible obstacles, difficulties and challenges on integration. The results of the study will show what kind of difficulties the integration process has as well as the demands of the Finnish labour market when Russian immigrants are seeking employment. Even though the integration process of Russian immigrants is under investigation, the research has a presumption. The research concentrates into the integration process from the perspective of Russian immigrants. The presumption is that there can be discrimination against the Russian immigrants both in Finnish society and Finnish labour market. Integration to the society is approached from the perspective of individual experience. Integration to the labour market is simply measured by getting employed.