Circular Jobs in Finland

The report uses System Dynamics modelling to forecast how circular economy (CE) interventions—such as extending product lifetimes and increasing recycling rates—affect jobs in Finland. It analyzes consumer electronics, textiles, food, mining, forestry, and buildings. The findings indicate that while some sectors like electronics and forestry may see net job gains due to the high labor intensity of recycling and refurbishment, others like textiles and food are projected to experience net job losses as reduced consumption lowers demand for primary production and retail.

• The electronics sector is projected to experience positive net employment impacts because the labor intensity of collection, recycling, and refurbishing outweighs the loss of jobs in domestic production and retail. The simultaneous implementation of three interventions is expected to generate approximately 580 additional jobs by 2040.
• The textile sector is forecast to see a net reduction in jobs. This is primarily because increasing product lifetimes reduces consumption and production, leading to job losses in production, retail, and end-of-life materials management that are not fully offset by growth in second-hand retail.
• In the food sector, circular economy interventions to reduce food waste are projected to result in net job losses. This occurs because lower food waste reduces both the demand for primary production (upstream employment) and the need for end-of-life materials management.
• The forestry sector is expected to see a net increase in jobs, estimated at 330 jobs by 2040 in the CE scenario. This is driven by the high labor intensity of recycling paper and wood products, which offsets small reductions in logging employment.
• The mining sector is projected to achieve a net gain of 90 jobs by 2040. Increased recovery of scrap metals creates 150 additional jobs in recycling and refurbishing, which more than compensates for a loss of 60 upstream employment jobs due to reduced demand for primary metals.
• The buildings sector is forecast to see a net increase in employment due to the higher labor intensity associated with sustainable buildings and retrofits. By 2040, the CE2 scenario (combining new construction and retrofits) is projected to create 5,250 additional jobs relative to the business-as-usual case.
• The report notes that upstream employment often dominates total sectoral jobs, which can mask the impacts of CE interventions on downstream activities. For example, farming makes up over 99% of estimated food sector employment.

APA

Bassi, A. M., & Pallaske, G. (2020). Circular Jobs in Finland. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/circular-jobs-finland.pdf

Chicago

Bassi, Andrea M., and Georg Pallaske. Circular Jobs in Finland. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/circular-jobs-finland.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bassi |first1=Andrea M. |last2=Pallaske |first2=Georg |title=Circular Jobs in Finland |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/circular-jobs-finland.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bassi2020circular, author = {Bassi, Andrea M. and Pallaske, Georg}, title = {{Circular Jobs in Finland}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-12/circular-jobs-finland.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }