For Some, Name is an Obstacle to Hiring

"Many young immigrants speak Finnish so well that employers don't notice any difference. Then at the end of the phone conversation when the young person has to give his or her name, the employer starts to cough and the youngster realises that he or she will not get the job because of having a strange name," says Mohamed Mukhtar Abdi, project manager at the Kanava Nuoriso association, which helps immigrant youth in Helsinki.

The 15-year-old organisation has been running a project called Kunnon kundi (roughly "Decent Guy") for three years, aimed at helping young immigrant men who are in danger of marginalisation to find appropriate training and jobs.

Labour Minister Anni Sinnemäki is a strong believer in the role of education in employing foreign-born people.

"We are right now trying to find ways for people to get into appropriate training as quickly as possible," she told YLE.

According to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, there were 16,000 foreign citizens looking for work in March, up by nearly 2,000 from a year earlier.

Sinnemäki says that the best way to help immigrants find jobs -- besides helping them learn Finnish -- is to improve the overall jobs picture.

"I think the most important thing is that we make sure we have good overall economic policies and secondly that we have a fair, functioning labour market, in other words that the same rules apply to everyone," she says.

While awaiting better times, Mohammed Mukhtar Abdi tries to encourage immigrant youth to apply for work and not to give up even if no job opens up after many applications.

"Many think that it's all because I'm different looking and of a different colour and have a different kind of name," he says. "We try to motivate them not to give up hope."