Young workers are hurting but Liu, 25, is not one of them. Tight economic times are, however, making him cautious about his next move.

Although graduating with a Master’s degree in Computer Science later this autumn, Liu says he has no plans of leaving his student job of five years as a software developer at a small Finnish firm.

“Now is not a good time to experiment on the job market,” he says.

According to Statistics Finland, the unemployment rate for young people in the 15 to 24 group was 28.3 percent at the end of the second quarter of this year, up 6.2 percentage points from the same period in 2008.

Layoff talks were recently held at Liu’s workplace and some divisions were forced to significantly cut payroll.

“It was a real bummer for those who received emails announcing layoff talks right before the summer holidays,” says Liu, whose own department escaped the job cut radar.

Recession pummels new grads

Although Liu won’t be scarred by the recession, he says he knows not all students share his situation. Liu, who moved to Finland from Beijing seven years ago, knows first-hand how difficult finding a job can be and underscores the importance of contacts.

“A friend helped me land my current job,” he says.

While contacts are helpful, recent graduates typically struggle to enter the working world because of their lack of experience.

“The recession hits people entering the job market the hardest,” says Pekka Sauri, Chairman of the Finnish Central Association for Mental Health. He says young people attempting to stand on their own two feet are more prone to anxiety and depression when the economy falters.

“Periods of joblessness in early adulthood can in the worst case lead to a career of unemployment,” says Sauri.

Coming from an IT background, Liu sees high-tech as the future of the Finnish economy. Ultimately he says it will pull Finland out of the current slump.

Liu, a former President of the International Student Organisation at the University of Helsinki, advises new grads to soak up education when the job market is rotten. He might even take his own advice; he is considering enrolling in an MBA programme to improve his position among the hordes of fresh grads flooding the market.

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