Sharp increase in unemployed jobseekers in May

A total of 432,700 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of May. This was 206,200 more than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 400 from the previous month. The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes the people fully laid off. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

At the end of May, the number of people laid off was 181,400 in the whole country, which was 167,500 more than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 158,100, representing an increase of 149,800 from May the year before.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for more than a year — amounted to 69,800, up 7,400 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 141,600, representing an increase of 56,600 on the year before.

Unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 numbered 56,400, representing an increase of 27,700 from May last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 62.3% of cases between January and May, which is 3.3 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 May totalled 45,100, or 20,900 fewer than in May the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in May amounted to 96,900, which was 32,200 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of May, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 105,700, down 18,100 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 10.6%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in May the number of people in employment was 96,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 70.4%, which was 2.7 percentage points lower than in May the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 295,000, which is 46,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 10.6%, 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. 

Further information on the differences between the statistics

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