Employment Service Statistics
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment compiles statistics on the clients of the Employment authorities: job-seekers registered at the Employment authority, vacancies reported by employers and also labour market policy services which aim to advance the employment of the job-seekers. Services included in the statistics are for example labour market training, pay subsidies, training, work/training trials and job alternation leave.
Most of the job-seekers are unemployed who have to register as job-seekers in order receive unemployment allowance and other benefits. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment compiles comprehensive unemployment statistics and publishes every month the number of unemployed job-seekers, the number of vacancies and the number of people participating in labour market policy service using a broad range of different classifications and variables. The data is released each month in the Employment Bulletin and in more detail in the Employment Service Statistics' statistical database.
There are two ways of measuring unemployment
In Finland, unemployment is monitored through two different statistics every month. The Labour force survey of Statistics Finland is based on sampling, while the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment are compiled on the basis of the information in the Employment authorities' customer register.
The unemployment figures in the Labour force survey and the Employment Service Statistics differ from each other because the two statistics are based on different criteria concerning job-seeking activeness and labour market availability. The data of both statistics is released simultaneously each month.
In the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment persons that are not in 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 stricter definition for unemployed: A person is unemployed if he/she has actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and is available for work within 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:
E-mail: temtyonvalitystilasto(at)gov.fi
Kaisa-Mari Kuusela, E-mail: kaisa-mari.kuusela(at)gov.fi
Petri Syvänen, E-mail: petri.syvanen(at)gov.fi
Suvi Timonen, E-mail: suvi.timonen(at)gov.fi