The number of employed persons rose by 67,000 in 2018

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, in 2018, the average number of employed persons aged 15 to 74 in Finland was 2,540,000, which was 67,000 more than in 2017.

There were 35,000 more employed men and 32,000 more employed women than in 2017. The number of employees grew by 57,000 and that of self-employed persons by 9,000. The employment rate grew in all age groups and the number of employed persons grew in almost all main industries.

The employment rate for the population aged 15 to 64 was 71.7 per cent in 2018. Men’s employment rate was 72.7 per cent and women’s 70.6 per cent. Men's employment rate grew by 2.0 percentage points and women's by 2.1 percentage points compared to 2017.

Unemployment went down

Source: Statistics Finland.

In 2018, the average number of unemployed persons was 202,000, which is 32,000 fewer than in the previous year. The unemployment rate among persons aged 15 to 74 was, on average, 7.4 per cent in 2018, having been 8.6 per cent in 2017. The unemployment rate of men fell to 7.4 per cent and that of women to 7.3 per cent.

The number of persons in disguised unemployment decreased by 15,000 from 2017. In 2018, there were 128,000 working-age persons aged 15 to 74 classified as being in disguised unemployment, who would and could have accepted work, but had not looked for it actively.

These data derive from Statistics Finland’s annual review Labour Force Survey 2018.