HELSINKI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The turnover of Finnish technology companies is expected to contract over the next six months, after a challenging start to the year, the trade association Technology Industries of Finland forecast on Wednesday.
According to a recent order book and personnel survey by the association, the number of personnel has begun to decline, after reaching a record high a year earlier. Meanwhile, the number of people being laid off has risen considerably.
"Many companies will face difficulties this year. Good order books have kept them afloat, but even those have shrunk rapidly in recent months," said Petteri Rautaporras, Technology Industries of Finland's director and chief economist.
Preliminary data shows that the turnover of technology industry companies, the largest export industry in Finland, decreased by approximately 2 percent in 2023 from the year before.
In addition, the monetary value of new orders received by technology industry companies in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 19 percent lower year-on-year, according to the trade association.
Although Rautaporras said that production has been running commendably in the technology industry, with new orders received, the order intake cannot yet even be described as satisfactory. "It seems inevitable that production volumes will decline somewhat in early 2024," he predicted.
As a result of the decrease in the number of new orders and production volumes, the number of people laid off in the industry has grown considerably.
According to the association, the number of employees affected by lay-off procedures at the end of December last year was approximately 16,000. At that time, the industry employed 334,000 people.
"Industrial production has stagnated in all of Europe and companies have been in an extremely worrying position," said Jaakko Hirvola, CEO of Technology Industries of Finland.
Hirvola added that this winter will be a difficult time for companies in the technology industry. "The massive wave of strikes targeting industrial companies sends a very concerning signal to foreign customers and investors," he underlined. ■
