The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased in August

A total of 232,600 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of August. This is 10,700 less than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 36,300 from the previous month. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 63,400, down 9,900 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers over 50 years of age was 87,200, or 4,000 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 29,600, representing a decrease of 1,800 from August last year. Between January and August, the period of unemployment of young people ended within three months on average in 65.8% of the cases, which is 1.9 percentage points less than the year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during August totalled 67,500, or 8,500 more than in August the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in August amounted to 118,100, which was 13,600 more than a year ago.

At the end of August, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 112,200, down 6,300 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

At the end of August, the number of people laid off was 12,300 in the whole country, which was 500 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 7,300, representing an increase of 500 from August the year before.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 6.1%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in August the number of people in employment was 32 000 more than on the previous year. The employment rate was 73.5%, which was 0.9 percentage points higher than in August the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 170,000, which is 17,000 fewer than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 6.1%, or 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous year.

Key differences between Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey

This information is based on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. The Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry are compiled on the basis of the information in the Employment and Economic Development Offices’ customer register, while the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland is based on sampling.

In the Ministry’s Employment Service Statistics, people that are not in an employment relationship or employed in business are listed as unemployed. Persons fully laid-off but not full-time students are also categorised as unemployed in the Employment Service Statistics. The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland has a stricter definition for being unemployed: a person is unemployed if he or she has actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and is available for work over the coming two weeks. The figures of the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland are internationally comparable and thus they are the official Finnish unemployment statistics.

Further information on the differences in the statistics http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2016-08-23_men_001_en.html

Inquiries:
Petri Syvänen, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 8050