The study is based on predicted changes in the need of workforce until 2025, which the Government Institute for Economic Research has drawn up. The demand for workforce is anticipated to increase the most in social services, healthcare, retail trade, education and research and to decrease in industry, agriculture and public administration.
The number of entrants in education should change accordingly and especially in vocational training more entrants will be needed in several branches. The need for more entrants in VET will be most pressing in social services and healthcare, because of the aging population and large attrition in workforce. Attrition will be significant also in the industrial sector, but the decreasing overall demand of industrial workforce means that not as many new entrants are needed in technological branches. The biggest decrease is needed in the cultural sector, both in VET and higher education, because the anticipated demand for workforce is not in line with the current, fairly large, number of entrants.
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture is preparing a development plan for education and research for the years 2011-2016. The results of this anticipation study will be used as a source of information for the plan.