The regional distribution of professional competence in Finland

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines the regional distribution of the observable and hidden professional competence of engineers and graduates of economics and business administration in Finland. The objective is to determine where the “cutting edge” of Finnish human capital is located. The estimation results show that self-assessed professional competence is significantly lower for highly educated workers whose jobs are in remote regions of Finland. On the other hand, highly educated workers employed outside the capital region regard their ability for more demanding tasks as slightly higher and have more hidden professional competence than the average of all regions. This result suggests that engineers and business graduates working outside the capital region may feel frustrated in their current jobs. When we measure professional competence and ability explained by education, working experience and other components of observable human capital, the most competent engineers and business graduates are found in southern Finland and university cities, as expected.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ETLA Discussion Papers ; No. 961

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Qualifikation ; Räumliche Verteilung ; Finnland

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Heikkilä, Anni
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2004

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/63889
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET