The Finnish forest industry is experiencing a new recruitment problem – how to interest young people in forest energy production and the woodworking sector, according to the Finnish Forest Association.
The industry managed to crack the problem of lack of interest in forest harvesting a few years ago, with 430 new students enrolled in harvester operator programmes last autumn.
But energy production and woodworking are not interesting students and some courses have had to be closed.
A forest energy production study programme was launched six years ago but the annual intake has been fewer than 30 students.
This is against a background of a woodchip harvest for energy production of 4.6 million m³ in 2008, with a 12 million m3 target set for 2020. An estimated 5,000 new skilled workers are needed to achieve the target.
Engineering studies in woodworking have also suffered. The Finnish education ministry said the number of polytechnics offering studies in the sector was likely to reduce from six to three because of such little interest from young people.
