357,400 unemployed jobseekers in December

A total of 357,400 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of December. This was 99,700 more than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers increased by 42,800 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 December, the number of people laid off was 96,600 in the whole country; a year-on-year increase of 68,900. The number of people fully laid off totalled 77,800, representing an increase of 56,100 from December the year before. The number of people fully laid off increased by 19,800 from November.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 91,900, up 28,900 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 127,200, representing an increase of 32,100 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 43,700, representing an increase of 10,900 from December last year. On average, 63.5 per cent of the unemployment periods of young people ended before reaching three months between January and December. This represents a drop of 4.6 percentage points from the year before.

Decrease in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during December totalled 50,400, which is 5,000 fewer vacancies than in December the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in December amounted to 92,800; a decrease of 11,200 from the previous year.

At the end of December, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 107,700, down 3,200 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 7.8%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in December the number of people in employment was 74,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 70.7%, which was 2.3 percentage points lower than in December the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 212,000, which is 48,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 7.8%, or 1.8 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 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