NordenBladet — At the end of April, a total of 318,400 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 114,600 less than a year earlier, but 88,800 more than in April two years ago. The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 13,100 from the previous month. Of the unemployed jobseekers, 158,600 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 April, the number of people laid off was 70,200 in the whole country, which was 113,800 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 53,900, representing a decrease of 109,800 from April the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 8,800 from March.The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 109,700, up 42,300 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers over 50 years of age was 116,200, or 25,400 less than at the same time a year earlier.Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 38,600, representing a decrease of 17,700 from April last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 56.1% of cases between January and April, which is 8.2 percentage points less than the year before.Increase in new vacanciesThe number of new vacancies reported during April totalled 76,100, or 26,000 more than in April the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in April amounted to 152,900, which is 39,600 more than a year ago.At the end of April, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 117,000, up 6,000 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 9.0%

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi