281,000 unemployed jobseekers in August

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 48,700 from August last year. The number of new vacancies reported in August totalled 90,100. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 155,300, which is 56,700 more than a year ago.

At the end of August, a total of 281,000 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 48,700 less than a year earlier, but 48,400 more than in August two years ago. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 41,500 from the previous month.

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 150,500 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 August, the number of people laid off was 35,700 in the whole country, which was 42,100 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 24,600, representing a decrease of 36,400 from August the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 7,800 from July.

111,800 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 111,800, up 32,900 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 105,200, or 10,100 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 32,800, representing a decrease of 9,200 from August last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 58.5 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and August. This is 4.4 percentage points less than a year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported during August totalled 90,100, or 34,500 more than in August the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in August amounted to 155,300, which is 56,700 more than a year ago.

At the end of August, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 105,900, down 100 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 6.5%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in August the number of people in employment was 104,000 more than on the previous year. The employment rate was 73.4%, which was 3.3 percentage points higher than in August the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 179,000, which is 33,000 less than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 6.5%, or 1.4 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