312,700 unemployed jobseekers in October

A total of 312,700 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of October. This was 88,000 more than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 3,100 from the previous month. 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 74,900 in the whole country, which was 58,300 more than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 57,200, representing an increase of 46,300 from October the year before. The number of people fully laid off increased by 400 from September.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 82,000, up 20,700 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 114,400, representing an increase of 28,200 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 36,300, representing an increase of 9,600 from October last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 64.1% of cases between January and October, which is 3.7 percentage points less than the year before.

Decrease in number of new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during October totalled 53,000, or 12,100 fewer than in October the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in October amounted to 100,600, showing a decrease of 20,400 from the previous year.

At the end of October, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 118,500, down 5,500 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 7.4%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in October the number of people in employment was 26,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 71.5%, which was 0.5 percentage points lower than in October the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 203,000, which is 34,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 7.4%, or 1.2 percentage points higher 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 http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2016-08-23_men_001_en.html

Inquiries:
Petri Syvänen, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 8050