259,000 unemployed jobseekers in October

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 53,700. The number of new vacancies reported in October totalled 91,600. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 169,700, which is 69,100 more than a year ago.

At the end of October, a total of 259,000 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 53,700 less than a year earlier, but 34,300 more than in October two years ago. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 6,300 from the previous month. 

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 139,000 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 October, the number of people laid off was 29,600 in the whole country, which was 45,300 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 19,800, representing a decrease of 37,400 from October the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 1,300 from September.

108,000 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 108,000, up 26,000 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 100,700, or 13,600 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 27,800, representing a decrease of 8,500 from October last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 60.8 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and October. This is 3.3 percentage points less than a year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported during October totalled 91,600, or 38,600 more than in October the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in October amounted to 169,700, which is 69,100 more than a year ago.

At the end of October, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 112,600, down 5,900 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 7.1%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in October the number of people in employment was 65,000 more than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 72.7%, which was 1.7 percentage points higher than in October the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 164,000, which is 37,000 less than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.1%, or 1.1 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:
Petri Syvänen, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 8050