322,600 unemployed jobseekers in July

At the end of July, a total of 322,600 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 64,900 less than a year earlier, but 53,700 more than in July two years ago. The number of unemployed jobseekers increased by 6,400 from the previous month. Of the unemployed jobseekers, 166,600 were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

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 July, the number of people laid off was 44,400 in the whole country, which was 55,600 fewer than at the same time last year. The number of people fully laid off totalled 32,400, representing a decrease of 49,600 from July the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 1,700 from June.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 113,900, up 36,200 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers over 50 years of age was 113,400, or 12,200 less than at the same time a year earlier.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 40,300, representing a decrease of 13,700 from July last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 58.5 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and July. This is 4.4 percentage points less than a year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported during July totalled 72,200, or 25,800 more than in July the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in July amounted to 136,000, which is 49,300 more than a year ago.

At the end of July, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 97,800, up 3,500 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and selfmotivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 7.1%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in July the number of people in employment was 86,000 more than on the previous year. The employment rate was 74.9%, which was 2.3 percentage points higher than in July the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 202,000, which is 5,000 less than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 7.1%, or 0.4 percentage points lower than the previous year.

Press release on the revision of the Labour Force Survey: https://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2020-12-22_uut_001_en.html

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 https://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2019-09-13_men_001_en.html

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