Helsinki is also known for being unique in the way
that for a city its size there is no part of the town
that could be deemed as "slum", or explicitly
inhabited by the poor. However, there is a growing social
inequality in the city and experts have recently warned
about the dangers of increasing social problems, especially
in certain eastern parts of Helsinki. Successful integration
of foreign immigrants into the society, infrastructure
development, production of public services and insufficient
cooperation between the municipalities of Helsinki conurbation
area are seen as major future challenges for the economic
development of the region.
Rapidly growing in Finland is the trend (especially
of the younger generation) to work for "placement
agencies". Although there has been a massive surge
of public companies going private in the last ten years,
this trend seems to be fueled by the increased demand
for more flexible work schedules as well as the freedom
to work seasonally or sporadically. Due to the nature
of these types of agencies as well as the types of work
they provide, it is common for them to hire non-Finns.
