Authors

• Diaconia University of Applied Sciences
• HUMAK University of Applied Sciences
• University of Eastern Finland
• Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences

Keywords

adolescents, cultural pluralism, education, entrepreneurial values, labour and employment, neighbourhoods, occupational life, place of residence, population migration, residential mobility, youth, youth employment

Abstract

The main themes of the 2011 survey studying young people living in Eastern Finland were working life, living environment and multiculturalism.

The respondents were first asked questions about their neighbourhood and municipality of residence, for example, in what kind of neighbourhood they would have preferred to and would not have wanted to live (e.g. in a sparsely populated rural area, large town or capital area), in which Finnish municipality they would have preferred to live and how long they thought they would continue to live in the municipality of residence where they lived at the time of the survey. Further questions relating to the respondents' views on their living environment charted opinions on the opportunities provided by the municipality of residence (e.g. to be employed, to find a partner), reasons for the intentions to move to another municipality (e.g. studies, better employment opportunities) and how the municipality of residence would have succeeded if it were to compete against other municipalities in being a good place to live.

Relating to working life and employment, the respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements (e.g. "It is likely that I will change jobs several times in my career"), how important they thought various things were in a job, what they were concerned about in working life and which skills they had gained in their education to prepare them for working life. Reasons for possibly wanting to or not wanting to become an entrepreneur in the future were charted.

The final questions probed opinions on multiculturalism and working abroad. Views were surveyed on statements relating to multiculturalism and internationalism in studies and working life as well as statements charting whether the respondents would like to work abroad and, more specifically, in Russia.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, type of educational institution, mother tongue, municipality of residence, household composition, education level, father's and mother's education levels and working hours per week.