332,800 unemployed jobseekers in January

At the end of January, a total of 332,800 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices. This is 81,200 more than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 24,500 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 January, the number of people laid off was 75,100 in the whole country; a year-on-year increase of 50,700. The number of people fully laid off totalled 57,800, representing an increase of 39,400 from January the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 20,000 from December.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 93,400, up 30,000 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 120,900, representing an increase of 26,500 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 40,200, representing an increase of 9,500 from January last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months in 51.7 percent of cases in January; down by 12.8 percentage points from the previous year.

Decrease in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during January totalled 83,600, or 9,200 less than in January the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in January amounted to 129,900, showing a decrease of 16,400 from last year.

At the end of January, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 112,300, down 3,600 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 8.7%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in January the number of people in employment was 61,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 69.9%, which was 2.0 percentage points lower than in January the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 235,000, which is 41,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 8.7%, or 1.6 percentage points higher 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 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