A total of 312,700 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of October. This was 88,000 more than a year earlier.
However, changes in unemployment figures also show a positive development: the number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 3,100 from the previous month.
These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
At the end of October, the number of people laid off was 74,900 in the whole country, which was 58,300 more than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totaled 57,200, representing an increase of 46,300 from October the year before.
The number of people fully laid off increased by 400 from September.
Long-term unemployed
The number of long-term unemployed, that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year, amounted to 82,000, up 20,700 on the previous year.
Unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 totaled 114,400, an increase of 28,200 over the previous year.
The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 36,300, which is 9,600 more from October last year.
New vacancies decreased
The official figures also show how the number of open vacancies is declining. In October, 53,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment offices, which is 12,100 fewer than in the same period of the previous year.
In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in October amounted to 100,600, showing a decrease of 20,400 from the previous year.
At the end of October, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 118,500, down 5,500 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.
Unemployment rate 7.4%
According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in October the number of people in employment was 26,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 71.5%, which was 0.5 percentage points lower than in October the year before.
According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 203,000, which is 34,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 7.4%, or 1.2 percentage points higher than the previous year.
The information included in this text is based on two main sources: the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland.
The Employment Service Statistics 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.
