Number of unemployed jobseekers rose in June

A total of 416,900 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of June, showing a year-on-year increase of 162,700. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 15,800 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 June, the number of people laid off was 137,600 in the whole country; a year-on-year increase of 122,800. The number of people fully laid off totalled 117,000, representing an increase of 107,400 from June the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 41,200 from May.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for more than a year — amounted to 75,200, up 11,400 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 134,600, representing an increase of 45,100 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 58,900, representing an increase of 23,600 from June last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 60.7% of cases between January and June, which is 5.3 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 June totalled 47,700; down 4,800 from June a year earlier. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices amounted to 93,000 in June, showing a decrease of 17,000 from the previous year.

At the end of June, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 98,300, down 11,700 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 7.9%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in June the number of people in employment was 87,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 73.7%, which was 2.1 percentage points lower than in June the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 223,000, which is 47,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 7.9%, 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 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.

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