The report says that between 2005 and 2009 the employment picture for non-Finns was improved by labour policy measures such as traineeships and preparatory vocational training.

However it says that in order to get jobs in Finland, foreigners must learn Finnish and accept preparatory support measures.

In 2009, the economic downturn clearly reduced the effectiveness of labour policy measures, the document says. This resulted in a decline of as much as six percent in the number of people finding jobs -- and this was true for both Finns and others.

Of nearly 145,000 people who completed "active labour market policy measures" in 2009, 21,000 (14.5 percent) were foreign citizens. At the same time, there were 16,700 foreigners registered at labour offices as unemployed jobseekers, which was 6.3 percent of all of those looking for work.

Non-Finns hit first by recession

"Thus we can say that, proportionately, active labour market policy measures are aimed at foreigners twice as often as toward the mainstream population," say the report's authors, Ilkka Nio and Paula Sardar. As a reason for this, they note that "in 2008, when the labour markets began to close, unemployment among foreigners was the first to rise."

It also found regional differences in the effectiveness of training and other support systems. For instance, in 2009 the regions of South-West Finland and South Savo had the most successful programmes. In both areas, one in four unemployed people who took part in such programmes was able to find a job that year.

The report is based on data tracked by the state-owned Statistics Finland between 2005 and 2009.