252,700 unemployed jobseekers in November

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 61,800 from November last year. The number of new vacancies reported in November totalled 93,100. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 168,100, which is 76,800 more than a year ago.

At the end of November, a total of 252,700 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 61,800 less than a year earlier, but 24,100 more than in November two years ago. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 6,300 from the previous month. 

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 134,900 were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes those fully laid off. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

At the end of November, the number of people laid off was 27,800 in the whole country, which was 48,600 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 18,600, representing a decrease of 39,300 from November the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 1,100 from October.

106,200 unemployed in the long term

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 106,200, up 20,900 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 99,800, or 16,100 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 26,500, representing a decrease of 9,500 from November last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 61.1 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and November. This is 3.0 percentage points less than the year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported during November totalled 93,100, or 43,700 more than in November the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in November amounted to 168,100, which is 76,800 more than a year ago.

At the end of November, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 115,000, down 5,200 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: The trend of the unemployment rate 6.9%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in November the number of people in employment was 62,000 more than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 72.8%, which was 1.8 percentage points higher than in November the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 164,000, which is 24,000 less than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 6.9%, or 1.3 percentage points lower than the previous year.

Press release on the revision of the Labour Force Survey: https://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2020-12-22_uut_001_en.html

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 of 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 https://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2019-09-13_men_001_en.html

Inquiries:
Juho Peltonen, Specialist, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 7119