Decrease in unemployed jobseekers in January
A total of 251,400 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of January; a decrease of 34,400 from the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 5,100 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 65,900, down 23,700 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 94,100, or 14,700 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.
Unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 numbered 31,900, representing a decrease of 3,500 from January last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 63.1 percent of cases in January; down by 6.9 percentage points from the previous year.
Increase in new vacancies
The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during January totalled 87,000, or 12,400 more than in January the previous year. The total number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in January amounted to 134,300, which was 20,400 more than a year ago.
At the end of January, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 122,000, up 800 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.
At the end of January, the number of people laid off was 21,100 in the whole country, which was 3,600 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 15,100, representing a decrease of 1,600 from January the year before.
Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 6.8%
According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in January the number of people in employment was up 35,000 on the previous year. The employment rate was 70.6%, which was 1.4 percentage points higher than in January the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 181,000, which is 57,000 fewer than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 6.8%, or 2.1 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.
Inquiries:
Petri Syvänen, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 8050
Key definitions of the Employment Service Statistics
Information on the Employment Service Statistics is available in the Ministry’s ‘Sector Online’ statistical base:
Joint publication of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employments: