Finland: 301,200 unemployed jobseekers in May

NordenBladet — At the end of May, a total of 301,200 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 131,500 less than a year earlier, but 74,600 more than in May two years ago. The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 17,200 from the previous month. Of the unemployed jobseekers, 154,500 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 May, the number of people laid off was 56,100 in the whole country, which was 125,300 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 41,200, representing a decrease of 117,000 from May the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 12,700 from April.The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 110,900, up 41,100 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers over 50 years of age was 110,500, or 31,200 less than at the same time a year earlier.Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 36,100, representing a decrease of 20,200 from May last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 56.4 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and May.

This is 5.9 percentage points less than a year before.Increase in new vacancies
The number of new vacancies reported during May totalled 80,800, or 35,700 more than in May the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in May amounted to 154,800, which is 57,900 more than a year ago.At the end of May, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 113,400, up 7,800 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 9.6%According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in May the number of people in employment was 138,000 more than on the previous year. The employment rate was 73.0%, which was 4.0 percentage points higher than in May the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 275,000, which is 25,000 less than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 9.6%, or 1.3 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