Decrease in unemployed jobseekers in November

According to the Employment Bulletin published by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, a total of 228,600 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of November; a decrease of 800 from the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers increased by 3,800 from the previous month.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 61,100, down 5,200 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 87,900, or 600 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 26,600, representing a decrease of 1,000 from November last year. On average, 68.2 per cent of the unemployment periods of young people ended before reaching three months between January and November. This is 1.0 percentage points less than a year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during November totalled 56,600, or 6,400 more than in November the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in November amounted to 110,900, which was 14,400 more than a year ago.

At the end of November, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 125,100, down 7,100 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

At the end of October, the number of people laid off was 20,600 in the whole country; a year-on-year increase of 4,700. The number of people fully laid off totalled 14,600, representing an increase of 4,800 from November the year before.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 5.9%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in November the number of people in employment was 10 000 more than on the previous year. The employment rate was 71.7%, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than in November the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 160,000, which is 8,000 fewer than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 5.9%, or 0.3 percentage points lower 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 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