Press release

Survey on education and future skills requirements in the food sector

Published:

Manual work will not be completely eliminated by automation in food industry, so skilled workers will still be needed in food manufacturing processes in the future.

Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation commissioned the HAMK Edu Research Unit to conduct a survey on education and training and future skills requirements in the food sector in Finland.

This is an important issue, as food industry companies have been suffering from a shortage of skilled workers in recent years and the situation does not look like it will improve in the coming years either.

The survey found that in this sector manual work will not be completely eliminated by automation, so skilled workers will still be needed in food manufacturing processes in the future.

The skills required for the jobs in the food industry are also increasing because the work is changing. This is happening mainly in the jobs that require vocational training and means that the importance of lifelong learning and updating of skills is growing.

Companies would like the training to be more employment-oriented and they would also like to see more cooperation between companies and educational institutes.

– The food sector provides an opportunity to do meaningful work that safeguards Finland’s security of supply and addresses society’s sustainability challenges. Education and training providers and companies need to start working together to re-brand the industry so that young people are given the right impression of the food industry, says Anne Somer, Director of Working Life, Future Workforce and Skills at the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation.

The survey was carried out in spring 2023 and it was the first of its kind. It involved a questionnaire carried out at 47 educational institutes and interviews with food companies.

Survey in Finnish (pdf)

 

Further information

Maiju Korhonen

Chief Advisor

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