Survey: business owners do not want to make English an official language

Just one in ten small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner wants to make English an official language in Finland, the most recent Yrittäjägallup survey shows

Among SME owners, the most support for official status for English was among companies employing more than ten people (15%), industry (14%), and among business owners aged under 40 (14%). The least support was in northern Finland (5%).

The Yrittäjägallup survey was answered by 1,080 representatives of micro-enterprises and SMEs between 3 and 12 June. Of the respondents, 45% were single-person business owners.

One of the people to have proposed official status for English is Jouko Pölönen, CEO of the insurer Ilmarinen, this spring. Pölönen believed that making English an official language would strengthen Finland’s position in the international competition for international talent.

“Business owners do not see official status for English as a solution that would increase labour migration. We need immigrants who will come here and work, but other solutions have to be found for that,” says Mikael Pentikäinen, CEO of Suomen Yrittäjät, the Finnish SME association.

“A good solution is to provide services in English — public and private — but just as important is investment in teaching and learning Finnish and Swedish.

“When you speak the languages spoken in Finland, it’s easier to integrate here and your threshold for staying in Finland is lower. More of an emphasis should be made on Finnish and Swedish skills when selecting and educating foreign students. When you can speak the national languages of Finland, you can find work more easily and make a home for yourself here more smoothly.”

Read the results in more detail here.

How the survey was conducted

A total of 1,080 representatives of SMEs responded to the survey, conducted by Veriana on behalf of Suomen Yrittäjät, between 3 and 12 June 2024.
The confidence interval for the survey results is ±3.1 percentage points.

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