In August 342,500 unemployed jobseekers

A total of 342,500 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of August. This is 4,200 less than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 35,900 from the previous month. The figures are from the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for more than a year — amounted to 127,900, up 15,100 on the previous year. Among those over 50 years of age, the number of unemployed was 126,100, representing an increase of 500 on the year before.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 46,200 representing a decrease of 2,200 from August last year. Between January and August, the period of unemployment of young people ended within three months on average in 60.4% of the cases, which is 0.8 percentage points less than the year before.

Increase in the number of new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during August totalled 51,300, or 13,900 more than in August the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices amounted to 82,500, which is 16,200 more than a year ago.

At the end of August, the number of people laid off was 27,200 in the whole country, which is 600 less than the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 17,200, representing a decrease of 2,000 from the year before.

The number of advance declarations of employers regarding potential lay-offs has decreased. According to the advance declarations, it is possible that 3,500 people will be laid off in the near future, which is 1,900 less than a year ago. The number of upcoming lay-offs increased by 2,900 from July to August.

At the end of August, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 112,700, up 3,200 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 7,2 per cent 

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey In August 2016, the number of employed persons was 27,000 more than one year earlier. The employment rate grew by 1.1 percentage points from last year to 69.9 per cent. According to Labour Force Survey, there were 195,000 unemployed in August 2016, i.e. 28,000 fewer than in August of the year before. At 7.2 per cent, the unemployment rate was 1.0 percentage points lower in August than one year earlier.

Key differences between Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey

The Information is based on the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, monitoring of upcoming lay-offs 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 Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment persons that are not in 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 stricter definition for unemployed: A person is unemployed if he or she has actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and is available for work within 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

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

Links:
Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment:
http://www.temtyollisyyskatsaus.fi/graph/tkat/tkat.aspx?lang=en
Information on upcoming lay-offs:
http://tem.fi/en/upcoming-lay-offs
Key definitions of the Employment Service Statistics:
http://tem.fi/en/release-dates-of-statistics-and-description-and-quality-description
Detailed information on the Employment Service Statistics available in an information system ‘Sector Online’:
www.toimialaonline.fi/ path: Statistical base – Labour market – Employment service statistics
Joint publication of the Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tie_en.html